Federal finance leprechaun Jim Flaherty thinks the federal government will take a while to get out of deficit spending and doing that will take a bit of pain.
"I am telling Canadians today that if a politician tries to tell you that getting back to surplus will be pain-free, they are simply not telling you the truth," Flaherty said.
"It will require a lot of saying 'no' to pet projects and special interests."
Flaherty forecast the federal government will be running deficits until 2015. In the meantime, the priority will be on economic stimulus spending and restraining growth in programs.
Guess that means projects requiring tens of billions of federal tax dollars, that currently have no customers - and no sign of customers - for their output, and that are running way behind schedule are going to be SOL.
-srbp-
