After first admitting that the Prince Edward Island deficit had ballooned from $11.5 million to $53.3 million, and then from there to $83.8 million, Treasurer Mitch Murphy today admitted that the deficit is, in fact, infinite.

“I realize that ‘infinite’ may be a hard concept for Islanders to grasp,” Murphy said to reporters, “so I’m happy to announce a targetted series of town hall sessions on the concept of infinity, to be held in January, to introduce Islanders to infinity.”

“We’ll also be covered concepts like ‘eternity,’ ‘timelessness’ and ‘forever,’” Murphy added.

Responding to opposition questions in the Legislature, Murphy suggested that Islanders think of “infinite” as “a whole lot,” but cautioned that he is working hard with his colleagues to develop a plan to harness the deficit, and went on to blame the infinite nature of the deficit on a series of unforseen infinite cuts in federal transfer payments, combined with an infinite drop in tourism because of SARS and infinite problems experienced by Island farmers this season.

Murphy also blamed the province’s math. He said that if PEI used the same accounting method as other Canadian provinces, PEI’s deficit would only be “almost infinite.”