"$9.1-billion surplus goes to debt: Goodale
Canadian Press
October 13, 2004
OTTAWA (CP) -- The federal government confirmed Wednesday that its tax intake massively outweighed spending in the past fiscal year -- producing a budget surplus of $9.1 billion.
The surplus for the year ended March 31, the seventh annual surplus in a row, was almost five times the $1.9 billion the government originally forecast.
"Consistent with generally accepted accounting principles, the $9.1 billion has been applied to reduce Canada's federal debt," said a news release from Finance Minister Ralph Goodale.
That debt stood at $501.5 billion at the end of March, down by $61.4 billion from its peak in 1996-97."
http://www.canada.com/national/story.html?id=f9bacd16-5bba-4418-8565-0bd99545ad11I can back that. I wouldn't have minded if they spent some of it on new military equipment though. I'm just glad they aren't using it to fund new social programs.
