Gaffe-prone Andrew Thomson cannot keep his numbers straight

September 17, 2015

OTTAWA – Despite being hand-picked by Thomas Mulcair as his financial advisor, Andrew Thomson keeps making mistakes and getting his numbers wrong.

 Thomson wrong on economic growth and oil

  Under fire this morning at a press conference for his flawed economic projections, Thomson did not know his own party’s economic growth and oil price assumptions:

 Thomson:  So for comparability reasons we have used the Department of Finance figures that were established in Budget 2015. We felt —

Journalist: Was that a 2% growth rate? What would it be?

Thomson: Uh…uh… 2.3. And oil was at uh… 58 . So I mean this is —

Journalist: It’s 2 in the budget… Where are you getting 2.3?

Thomson: So it’s, uh, look it’s based on the Department of Finance numbers. I think that that’s the important thing.

(Andrew Thomson, press conference, September 17, 2015)

 In fact, Budget 2015 projects 2.0% growth and $54 per barrel oil for 2015.

 And the Bank of Canada and OECD have since downgraded growth to 1.1% – which Andrew Thomson is pretending did not happen.

 Thomson does not know the cost of Mulcair’s child care mirage

 Yesterday, Thomson could not remember how much the NDP’s child care mirage will cost: 

 Journalist: The daycare money, where is that coming from?

Thomson: The daycare money is presented in this document. And it is starting in year one, 2016 year.

Journalist: How much money?

Thomson: I would have to go back and find the detail on it. Sorry, I need the actual detail piece.

(Andrew Thomson, CBC Power and Politics, September 16, 2015) [WATCH HERE at 5:00]

 Thomson claims surpluses in Saskatchewan, auditor calls them deficits 

 After being criticized by reporters yesterday for its vague costing document, the NDP decided to put out a new costing document today with Thomson claiming “what we have opted to do to provide in fact a double balance.”

 It is no surprise given Thomson kept two sets of books to make his 2006 and 2007 Saskatchewan budgets look balanced, even though the auditor said they were not:

  “If Saskatchewan had used GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) to prepare the GRF (General Revenue Fund) Budgets, it would have reported deficit budgets in nine out of the last ten years instead of balanced budgets.”

 Only the 2009-10 budget would have been “balanced” with an estimated annual GRF surplus of $26 million. (Provincial Auditor of Saskatchewan, 2013 Special Report, The Need to Change – Modernizing Government Budgeting and Financial Reporting in Saskatchewan, p.30)

 Eglinton—Lawrence is Thomson’s second choice 

 In a press conference this morning, Thomson admitted that running in Eglinton—Lawrence was not his first choice in this election: 

 “I do live in Spadina—Fort York. That is a seat I would have considered running in except Olivia Chow decided to come back.” (Andrew Thomson, press conference, September 17, 2015)

 Thomson said cuts are “inevitable”

 And who can forget when Thomson admitted NDP cuts are “inevitable”? (CBC, August 25, 2015)