HALIFAX, NS - Progressive Conservative House Leader Chris d’Entremont says Premier Darrell Dexter should immediately remove Howard Epstein from the Standing Committee on Public Accounts for his inappropriate comments yesterday to an officer of the House of Assembly.

Auditor General Jacques Lapointe’s winter 2012 report raised ethical questions about Nova Scotia’s deficit spending. The NDP’s immediate response, through NDP MLA Howard Epstein, was to challenge the Auditor General by saying “who asked you?”

“The Auditor General reports to the House of Assembly - not the NDP government,” said d’Entremont. “Howard Epstein showed complete disrespect toward the Office of the Auditor General when he lectured him on what the Auditor General should and should not report. Mr. Lapointe has full authority to comment on risks to Nova Scotians and that’s what he did yesterday. This is just the latest example of the NDP shooting the messenger.”

d’Entremont says after promising balanced budgets but delivering three covered in red-ink, the ethics of the NDP’s broken promises on deficits is fair game.

“The NDP is embarrassed by the Auditor General’s criticism of deficit budgets, but he spoke the truth,” said d’Entremont. “The problem is, it’s a truth the NDP simply doesn’t want to hear. They’re responsible for adding half a billion dollars in new debt, and counting, to the burden our children will carry.”

A PC government will bring back the balanced budget legislation that the NDP irresponsibly cast aside when they became government.

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