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Accountability in accounting

From the good ole days. When it was the surplus that was being misunderestimated.

Stephen Harper, Oct. 6, 2004. “We also know that the government has been wildly inaccurate in its forecasts and spending projections over the past five or six years. In recent budgets the Liberals have lowballed surplus numbers by an average of $6.5 billion per year. In the U.S. they do not have this kind of debate. There is a congressional budget office. People there, like here, may disagree on fiscal policy, but they should not have to guess if the numbers they are using are accurate.”

Monte Solberg, Oct. 13, 2004. “It just makes the point that if government … is going to be taken seriously about numbers, it must provide estimates that are going to be at least close to where we actually end up.”

Stephen Harper, Oct. 13, 2004. “These guys were lying about the surplus, and this proves why we need independent fiscal forecasts.”

Rob Nicholson, Oct. 15, 2004. “The Liberal government makes a mistake every year by trying to guess the revenues of the country. It has mis-guessed the surplus every year. Mistakes are made, but the government might want to get some new people to advise it. That might be a good move. Why do we not bring in a bill suggesting that whoever has been advising the government for the last seven years as to what its revenues are should be fired. I bet we would get a consensus on that one. Is there anybody in the House who would disagree with bringing in a bill to get new people to advise the Liberals? We would all be better off and Canada as a whole would be better off.”

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