OTTAWA – New Democratic Party governments have the best fiscal track-record among all parties, balancing the books more than twice as often than Liberal governments, according to a federal government report released today.

“The NDP has shown that it is possible to invest in the things Canadians say they value, while demonstrating fiscal discipline," NDP Leader Jack Layton said. “Our approach to the budget this spring delivered important investments in housing, the environment, foreign aid, education and training while keeping the books balanced."

The report shows that NDP governments have balanced the books 46 per cent of the time. Manitoba’s NDP government has posed surpluses every year it has been in office and Saskatchewan’s NDP government posted 11 consecutive balanced budgets after ending a decade of Conservative mismanagement and corruption.

Despite Paul Martin’s frequent pronouncements on fiscal responsibility, Liberals have the worst fiscal record overall. Liberal federal, provincial and territorial governments have posted year-over-year budget deficits an astonishing 79 per cent of the time.

Conservative governments have only a slightly better record than the Liberals, logging deficits 65 per cent of the years in which they’ve been in power.

The report issued today by the Liberal government’s Department of Finance looks at federal, provincial and territorial accounts over the past 22 years.

Reference: Fiscal Reference Tables, September 2005