Conservatives Keeping Painful Cuts Under Wraps, Opposition Says

Critics allege the government is staying quiet on controversial cutbacks until after a possible spring election.

The Conservatives promised to find $17.6 billion in savings in order to reduce the $55.6-billion national deficit, but where they’re going to find all that gravy remains unclear. The government says that stopping stimulus spending and trimming five per cent from departmental budgets will be enough to meet its deficit-reduction target, but critics are skeptical that there aren’t deeper cuts to social programs on the way. Health transfer payments to the provinces is one costly area that could be ripe for cuts, but scaling back health care would be politically explosive for the Tories. Tuesday NDP MP Pat Martin accused the government of keeping bad news “a deep dark secret” in order to not lose support before the next election.