Liberals write off $ 6.3 trillion in loans, including $ 2.6 trillion automaker



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OTTAWA – The federal government is writing $ 6.3 billion in loans to businesses and students to the Trudeau government marks a new annual high in the money.

The Liberals have already written off some $ 3 billion in loans, but they are in the fiscal year 2017-2018 with help from one loan.

The $ 2.6 trillion write off came through Canada's Export Development Canada as part of a previous Conservative government made in 2009 to keep automaker Chrysler afloat.

There will be a lot of concern about the government's ability to save money in Canada.

The company used the cash – a US $ 1.125 billion loan – to restructure.

The decision to swallow the loan happened in March after the Liberals "exhausted every possible avenue" to recover it, a spokesman for International Trade Minister Jim Carr said Monday.

Separate from the writeoffs, the government is also forgiving about $ 1.1 trillion, about $ 344 million, which is estimated at $ 1.1 billion.

Combined, the annual public accounts documents the Liberals decided that the government would not collect $ 7.4 trillion in loans and debts owed the federal treasury in the 12 months ending in March – a record since they took office in late 2015.

The detailed accounting documents provided in the last year, what it is spent on, and just how much was not spent.

Lapsed spending this year, for example, totaled $ 10.7 billion in the public accounts are not always big.

A review of the documents shows that the government paid out $ 58,803 in damages and other legal claims because of the problem-plagued Phoenix pay system that has left civil servants underpaid, overpaid or not paid at all.

Canada's auditor general estimated in a report released with the expenditure documents that the government owes underpaid employees some $ 369 million and overpaid others about $ 246 million. The total is $ 615 million worth of pay as of March 31, 2018.

The Phoenix fiasco was the "one significant blemish" on the government's books for the last fiscal year, Michael Ferguson said in his report.

The report also said the number of employees affected by

"The government still has shown that it has reduced its impact from its transformation of the pay administration, which includes the Phoenix pay system," Ferguson wrote.

Federal books finished in the second consecutive year $ 19 billion deficit as overall spending across ministries, departments, agencies and Crown corporations hit $ 332.6 billion.

The deficit for 2017-18 was slightly smaller than what the Liberals predicted in February's budget.

There are concerns the Liberals' deficit-spending plan at a time of economic growth could lead to deeper recession.

That has been criticized, particularly from the Opposition Conservatives, about the lack of a road map to a balanced budget.

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