Liberal Party demands immediate fiscal update after government approves new $60 million loan from RBC. 

Liberal Party Leader Robert Mitchell is demanding that the Conservatives release an immediate fiscal update after documents show that Cabinet approved a $60 million loan from RBC on December 9, two days before Rob Lantz resigned as Premier.
 
“With no fall fiscal update for a second year in a row and the provincial debt projected to grow to more than $3 billion, Islanders remain in the dark about how their children and grandchildren will be impacted by this government’s continued reckless spending,” Mitchell said. “As this government continues to borrow money with no plan for when or how it will be repaid, it is obvious that the Conservatives are more focused on playing political games and appointing the province’s third Premier of the year than they are about the fiscal future of Islanders.”
 
Mitchell and the Liberal Party aren’t the only ones raising alarm about this government’s out-of-control spending. Darren Noonan, PEI’s Auditor General, raised concerns at a public accounts committee meeting in October that government needed a long-term plan in order to tackle the growing debt. Despite warnings from Noonan about the burden being created for future generations if spending continues at its current rate, Finance Minister Jill Burridge has yet to provide Islanders with any details on how this government plans to tackle the debt.  
 
“Just days before Rob Lantz resigned as Premier, amid growing concerns about the lack of fiscal transparency from his government, his Cabinet approved the borrowing of an additional $60 million,” Mitchell said. “The lack of respect shown for Islanders is astounding.”
 
While government spending continues at an alarming rate, Islanders continue to wait for the government to provide a fall fiscal update. Due at the end of September, this is the second year in a row that the government has been late providing Islanders with this information.
 
“The government has made it painfully obvious that their priorities lie with securing their own political futures rather than about securing the future well-being of this province," Mitchell said. “Islanders deserve a Premier that is willing to put the best interests of the province above their own, but it seems like the Conservatives are still trying to cycle through its caucus to find someone capable of doing so.”

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Contact:
Zac Murphy
Email: [email protected]