The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is urging all three political parties to rethink their spending promises as election day approaches.

So far, each political leader has pledged hundreds of millions in new spending, which could contribute to a potential billion-dollar deficit this year.

Devin Drover, who is with the federation, estimates that the province is spending $1.2 billion annually on debt interest.

He stresses that leaders must learn from past spending mistakes as they prepare for their potential next term.

“Every time we get new revenue, we decide this will cover us off for the next few years. It doesn’t get back to the structural issue that we have in the province, which is we’re spending way more than we take in year after year,” he said.

“We need to get out of this crisis of just racking up big government debt and hoping that the next generation of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are willing to deal with it.”