Madam Speaker, I call this creative accounting method Liberal flim-flam.
Speaking of the plan to divide federal spending into two budgets, one an operating budget, which the government promises to balance, and one an investment budget, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Jason Jacques, said this:
We have not seen a clear definition of what would fall into capital and would fall into operating.
Even the Parliamentary Budget Officer cannot tell what the outcome will be. He went on to say the following:
At this point it's impossible for us and for you as Parliamentarians, to assess the likelihood or probability of the government hitting any fiscal target.
Call it a plan, call it a strategy or call it a flim-flam, it does not work. A flim-flam is a flim-flam, nothing more.