In his post budget media tour, Paul Martin is attempting to sell the merits of his recent budget. Fair enough. The problem here is with some of the incredible things the Minister is saying as he peddles his big programs, no spending cuts, no tax cuts, no debt reduction document.

Let's start with the fact that the Minister has dipped into his contingency reserve of $4.0 billion this year by over 60%. That's right; $2.5 billion has been taken out for a variety of spending initiatives.

Of course, some funds are going to defence, but the numbers in the broader context are instructive. When the Liberals took office in 1993, defence spending as a proportion of GDP stood at 1.8%. Today it sits at 1.2%. And after five years of increases that this so-called security budget sets in motion it will only register at 1.3%.

This will put us second amongst our NATO allies - second last that is. We will still sit at half the NATO average and at a paltry one-third of the U.S. commitment to their armed forces. So the contingency reserve and other monies are not really going to defence.

Instead, almost $750 million will go to the CBC and the other culture vulture friends of Heritage Minister Sheila Copps over the next half decade. $500 million will go to an African debt relief fund and some $2 billion is earmarked for a Strategic Infrastucture Foundation. Let's not forget Brian Tobin's broadband boondoggle - while downgraded from optical network speed to 14.4 dialup access - that is still on track for $115 million over three years.

The infrastructure idea has some merit but already Quebec and other provinces are calling it a federal end-run attempt to deal with cities while bypassing provincial capitals. Talk about getting stuck in traffic before even building the badly needed road.

All the while, our debt still sits at $547.4 billion with no legislated schedule for repayment (a CTF policy position) in sight. And Ottawa still coughs up $110 million every day on debt interest alone. In response, Minister Martin has told reporters that it would be "inappropriate" to pay down debt at this time. And if you think he was misquoted, think again. Page 148 of the budget states, "- debt paydown at this time is not appropriate."

Excuse me. It is always appropriate to pay down debt. Not to do so merely perpetuates the fiscal crime of intergenerational tax evasion onto the backs of our children (read: tomorrow's taxpayers). As for spending cuts, when the Minister was asked if there was any wasteful spending to eliminate in the $130.5 billion federal budget, he succinctly stated, "the answer is no."

It appears as though Mr. Martin was the only person in Canada who missed last week's scathing Auditor General's (AG) report. AG Sheila Fraser found over $400 million in loans not reported by ACOA (and CTF research has revealed in the past that you can write-off a big chunk of this portfolio right now), the continued mismanagement and waste in several grants and contributions programs (HRDC, come on down!, you're the next contestant on The Money is Endless) and of course, the GST home heating rebate fiasco where tax dollars were sent to amongst others, crooks and corpses.

After 653 days Canadians finally received a clear yet dismal picture of what Ottawa intends to do with their hard-earned tax dollars: spend, spend and spend some more. Some folks have even opined that Jean Chretien was Paul Martin's budget ghost-writer. This is quite a scary thought given Mr. Chretien's disastrous tenure as a finance minister under Trudeau. So enjoy the season and sing along - "it's beginning to look a lot like Trudeau."