Mulcair can’t pay for pharmacare promise

September 18, 2015

TORONTO – Another day, another multi-billion dollar health care promise Thomas Mulcair cannot pay for.

 “By siding with Stephen Harper to avoid a deficit at all costs, Mulcair can’t possibly pay for his multi-billion dollar promises like pharmacare,” said Liberal candidate for Markham—Thornhill, John McCallum. “Mulcair’s promise sounds good, but there’s no substance behind it.”

 “Mulcair has already delayed and underfunded his signature promises like infrastructure, transit, and child care. Now, with the glaring holes in his costing, the NDP’s empty promises like today’s pharmacare announcement are even more dubious,” said Mr. McCallum. 

 Mr. McCallum noted that experts, like former Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, say Mulcair’s math does not add up:

 “Former parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page said he was disappointed with the party’s thin financial document and use of Conservative finance minister Joe Oliver’s budget as a benchmark. ‘Why give Mr. Oliver that kind of credibility?’ Page asked. ‘They are now in a debate and [the NDP] can’t really say that is not a credible forecast. They used it.’”

…

“’They could have done better,’ Page told HuffPost. The NDP’s plan has ‘potential sustainability problems over the medium term,’ and isn’t very prudent or transparent. ‘They’ve exposed [Mulcair] because this is a Swiss-cheese fiscal costing platform,’ he said.”

(Kevin Page, former Parliamentary Budget Officer, Huffington Post, September 17, 2015)

 “If [Mulcair’s] going to assume an old forecast he has to be able to defend that… he’s fudging the books, to say it mildly, [he’s] choosing a forecast that helps him out.”

…

“The bottom line is it doesn’t balance.”  

(Scott Clark, former Deputy Minister of Finance, Huffington Post, September 17, 2015)

 “The only thing Thomas Mulcair’s experience has taught him is to play politics with everything,” said Mr. McCallum. “This election is a choice between investment in our economy and communities, or Harper’s and Mulcair’s cuts and broken promises. Thomas Mulcair has made the wrong choice.”