Former Chief Statistician Munir Sheikh writes : “While there is a view out there that the Liberal government’s focus is on achieving some stable debt-GDP ratio – which would allow them to permanently run relatively large budget deficits – their expressed views are different but somewhat vague.” Yes, their own views, during the federal election campaign, were different but they weren’t in any way vague. Their September 2015 fiscal plan declares: “Canada benefits from a low debt-to-GDP level and historically low borrowing rates.” It goes on to say that they have two fiscal anchors: the debt-to-GDP ratio, which would fall to 27% in 2019-20, the year they achieved a balanced budget, their second fiscal anchor. The most recent projections show them miserably failing with regard to both anchors.