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Day Seven since Liberal platform launch – still no independent verification

January 17, 2006

OTTAWA – Today, Conservative MP Monte Solberg renewed his challenge to the Liberals to verify – through an independent economic think tank – that their platform numbers add up.

“It is now Day Seven since the Liberals released their platform, and they continue to refuse to have an independent verification of their platform numbers. Yesterday they claimed their projections have been confirmed by 15 independent experts, but they failed to tell Canadians this analysis was only of basic economic indicators, not of Liberal tax and spending plans,” said Solberg.

Solberg reiterated the growing support for the affordability of the Conservative platform commitments by citing recent independent experts on the Conservative plan:

 

The Conservative platform was given the seal of approval in an accompanying letter from Paul Darby, deputy chief economist, of the Conference Board of Canada. Darby said in an interview later that he stands by his conclusion. "It's affordable," Darby said. (Edmonton Journal, January 14, 2006)
"Absolutely, it's affordable," said Dale Orr, chief economist of Global Insight. (Globe and Mail, January 17, 2006)

“Is Harper's plan affordable? Not much question about that. The federal government is rich, much richer than the Liberals have been letting on in recent years.” (CBC, The National, Reality Check, January 13, 2006)

“It looks to me as though you can indeed find savings… over the five years from 2006-2007 all the way up to 2010-2011 would add up to a bit more than $22-billion.” (William Robson, Director of Research at the C. D. Howe Institute, Globe and Mail, January 17, 2006)

“It’s a bit rich for the Liberals to lecture anyone on getting the numbers right. The fact of the matter is the Conservative platform is both prudent and fiscally responsible, with adequate surpluses to deal with other issues such as the fiscal imbalance,” Solberg said. “In contrast, Paul Martin has been wrong on his fiscal projections every single year he was finance minister or prime minister.”

“Canadians deserve a full accounting of Paul Martin’s back-of-the-napkin platform promises. Only an independent verification of their last minute platform commitments will do. Because he has no credibility,” concluded Solberg.

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