Finance minister Tom Marshall has always had a curious relationship with reality.
He likes to talk about debt reduction, for example, but he never really does anything about it, or as in his plan for Muskrat falls, he actually wants to increase the public debt by upwards of 50% of its current size.
When Marshall delivered the most recent budget – and set a record for public spending in the process – he told reporters that “our economy is sizzling right now.”
Tom must be referring to Bermuda or Barbados or wherever it is he takes the sun during the colder months.
He certainly isn’t talking about his own district of Humber East.
The Western Star reported on Thursday that the major container line serving the province is dropping Marshall’s home town of Corner Brook from its destinations.
Capt. Sid Hynes told The Western Star Thursday afternoon that export freight from Corner Brook has dropped by around 70 per cent and imported cargo has declined by about 30 per cent in the last five years.
Exports down by 70%.
Imports down by 30%.
Since 2005.
Now it surely doesn’t take an expert to tell that this is not an economy that is sizzling.
Anyone who claims it is sizzling might be fried though.
- srbp -