Tories launch age of austerity screamed the front page of The Globe and Mail. The National Post applauded the plan as a genuine effort to restore balance to the nation's books. Perhaps they were reading a different budget then the one we found on the Department of Finance's website.

According to the Oxford dictionary to be austere is to be harsh or stern. And to most Canadians, a genuine effort means bold actions to shrink the deficit. Unfortunately, the budget showed neither.

Start with government spending. In the coming year (2010/11) spending is set to increase by $12.8-billion or 4.8%, after a $28.9-billion or 12.1% increase this year (2009/10). What does the government plan to do after the stimulus plan elapses? Spending will decrease slightly by 1.4% in 2011/12, before it's ramped up again over the final three years of its budget plan (2012/13 to 2014/15). By 2014/15, spending will be $30.6-billion (11.4%) higher than it is today. How is that an austere spending plan?

Rather than decrease spending, the Conservative government is planning to control the increase in spending, something they have not managed to do in the four years they have been in office. To constrain the growth in spending, the government is going to find $17.6-billion in savings over the next five years.

The savings will largely come from reducing the growth in military spending and international assistance and attempts to constrain administrative costs (freeze salaries on ministers and MPs and spending on travel, hospitality etc). The strategic reviews of departmental spending aimed at trimming fat from the public sector will only save $1.3-billion over five years.

Over the five year period, the federal government plans to spend over $1.4-trillion. The savings plan will actually shave only 1% off total government spending. How is that austere?

On the other hand revenues are expected to rebound by $17.4-billion (8.1%) to $231.3-billion in this coming year (2010/11) and continue to grow at a robust average rate of 6.4% until 2014/15.

With revenues expected to rebound this coming year, it's the government's unwillingness to address its overspending that is the real culprit behind the $105-billion in deficits over the next five years.

Had Prime Minster Harper and Finance Minister Flaherty taken the deficits seriously and actually delivered an austerity budget, it could have easily balanced the books by 2011/12. Doing so simply required them to eliminate stimulus spending for 2010/11 and 2011/12 and reduce program spending by an additional 2.8% each year.

But Finance Minister Flaherty wasn't willing to go there. Instead he chose to stay the course and add another $19.2-billion in stimulus for 2010/11, including an additional $7.7-billion in infrastructure spending for this coming year.

In addition, the budget introduced a smattering of new initiatives: $362-million for greening the economy; $194 million for additional subsidies to mining, agriculture, and fishing sectors; $108-million for young workers; $62-million to encourage participation in sports; $56-million to protect families and communities; $53-million for First Nations child and family services; $48-million annually in new regional development program spending; the list goes on.

The budget claims the stimulus and new measures are needed to sustain Canada's economic advantage now and for the future, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Additional government stimulus spending, especially on infrastructure, will harm the economic recovery rather than help. That is, the money will be spent as private sector activity picks up and the economy naturally moves out of recession. The result is government competing with the private sector for resources, increasing costs for the private sector.

While the media may think the Conservative government delivered an austerity budget, the reality is otherwise. The government's inability to control spending and willingness to run at least five more years of deficits will lead to a weaker, not stronger, economy.