Business
The Problem With Trudeau’s Fiscal Responsibility Message

From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
By Franco Terrazzano
This year’s interest charges will cost taxpayers more than $46 billion. That’s almost $4 billion every month that’s not going to improve services or lower taxes. It’s also a cost of more than $1,000 for every Canadian.
There’s only one problem with the federal government’s messaging about saving money: the feds aren’t actually saving money.
“The foundation of our Fall Economic Statement is our responsible fiscal plan,” said Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.
The mid-year budget update shows the government increasing spending by $15 billion this year. A far cry from Freeland’s March promise to find “savings of $15.4 billion over the next five years.”
Next year, the government will increase spending by $30 billion. And that comes on top of an already ballooned baseline.
The feds spent all-time highs before the pandemic. That means Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was spending more before the pandemic than the feds did during any single year during World War II, even after accounting for inflation and population growth.
Freeland is trying to put Canadians’ minds at ease by claiming her deficits are “modest.” Canadians have heard this before.
When running for prime minister in 2015, Trudeau promised to run a few “modest” deficits of less than $10 billion before balancing the budget in 2019. Trudeau blew that balanced budget promise by a “modest” $20 billion.
This year’s deficit is projected to hit $40 billion. Deficits in 2024 and 2025 are both projected to be $38 billion.
Is this the new modest? Four times larger than the “modest” deficits Trudeau first promised?
The mid-year budget update proves this government has no idea how to balance a budget.
In fact, the only mention of a balanced budget in Ottawa comes from the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who forecasts the next balanced budget will happen in 2035. But that relies on the economy growing every year, relatively low interest rates and no new spending.
A government too incompetent to balance the budget means Canadians are paying dearly just to service the debt.
This year’s interest charges will cost taxpayers more than $46 billion. That’s almost $4 billion every month that’s not going to improve services or lower taxes. It’s also a cost of more than $1,000 for every Canadian.
Next year, debt interest charges will surpass federal health transfers to the provinces. Soon, every penny collected from the GST will go toward servicing the debt.
As bad as the budget is, the government could keep the ship from sinking with modest spending restraint.
The government could balance the budget next year by using its own projected program spending from two budget updates ago. Instead of running a $38-billion deficit next year, taxpayers would have a $1-billion surplus if Freeland just stuck to the spending plan she created in 2021.
This highlights the root of Trudeau’s spending problem – the ratchet effect. Almost every budget document released by this government drastically increases spending.
The mid-year budget update in 2019 first projected spending in 2024 to be $421 billion. This year’s budget update shows the government will spend $519 billion in 2024.
This government’s muscle for fiscal responsibility has atrophied.
MPs from all political parties can’t help themselves from taking a pay raise every year – regardless of the struggles their constituents endure. The prime minister can’t help but spend $61,000 on Manhattan hotel rooms during a two-day anti-poverty summit.
No one in government is willing to end the hundreds of millions in bureaucratic bonuses, despite departments consistently meeting less than half of their own performance targets.
The Liberals are also unwilling to take the air out of the ballooning bureaucracy, which increased by 98,000 employees since they took power. That’s almost 40 per cent more federal employees. The bureaucracy currently consumes half of every tax dollar used in day-to-day spending.
No party in the House of Commons is willing to oppose the more than $43 billion taxpayers are being forced to give multinational corporations to build battery plants.
This government hasn’t shown one iota of fiscal restraint. In fact, the government appears to be trying its best to run up the red ink. Fortunately for taxpayers, it would only take modest spending restraint for a serious government to bring the books back into black.
Franco Terrazzano is the Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
2025 Federal Election
As PM Poilievre would cancel summer holidays for MP’s so Ottawa can finally get back to work

From Conservative Party Communications
In the first 100 days, a new Conservative government will pass 3 laws:
1. Affordability For a Change Act—cutting spending, income tax, sales tax off homes
2. Safety For a Change Act to lock up criminals
3. Bring Home Jobs Act—that repeals C-69, sets up 6 month permit turnarounds for new projects
No summer holiday til they pass!
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced today that as Prime Minister he will cancel the summer holiday for Ottawa politicians and introduce three pieces of legislation to make life affordable, stop crime, and unleash our economy to bring back powerful paycheques. Because change can’t wait.
A new Conservative government will kickstart the plan to undo the damage of the Lost Liberal Decade and restore the promise of Canada with a comprehensive legislative agenda to reverse the worst Trudeau laws and cut the cost of living, crack down on crime, and unleash the Canadian economy with ‘100 Days of Change.’ Parliament will not rise until all three bills are law and Canadians get the change they voted for.
“After three Liberal terms, Canadians want change now,” said Poilievre. “My plan for ‘100 Days of Change’ will deliver that change. A new Conservative government will immediately get to work, and we will not stop until we have delivered lower costs, safer streets, and bigger paycheques.”
The ’100 Days of Change’ will include three pieces of legislation:
The Affordability–For a Change Act
Will lower food prices, build more homes, and bring back affordability for Canadians by:
- Cutting income taxes by 15%. The average worker will keep an extra $900 each year, while dual-income families will keep $1,800 more annually.
- Axing the federal sales tax on new homes up to $1.3 million. Combined with a plan to incentivize cities to lower development charges, this will save homebuyers $100,000 on new homes.
- Axing the federal sales tax on new Canadian cars to protect auto workers’ jobs and save Canadians money, and challenge provinces to do the same.
- Axing the carbon tax in full. Repeal the entire carbon tax law, including the federal industrial carbon tax backstop, to restore our industrial base and take back control of our economy from the Americans.
- Scrapping Liberal fuel regulations and electricity taxes to lower the cost of heating, gas, and fuel.
- Letting working seniors earn up to $34,000 tax-free.
- Axing the escalator tax on alcohol and reset the excise duty rates to those in effect before the escalator was passed.
- Scrapping the plastics ban and ending the planned food packaging tax on fresh produce that will drive up grocery costs by up to 30%.
We will also:
- Identify 15% of federal buildings and lands to sell for housing in Canadian cities.
The Safe Streets–For a Change Act
Will end the Liberal violent crime wave by:
- Repealing all the Liberal laws that caused the violent crime wave, including catch-and-release Bill C-75, which lets rampant criminals go free within hours of their arrest.
- Introducing a “three strikes, you’re out” rule. After three serious offences, offenders will face mandatory minimum 10-year prison sentences with no bail, parole, house arrest, or probation.
- Imposing life sentences for fentanyl trafficking, illegal gun trafficking, and human trafficking. For too long, radical Liberals have let crime spiral out of control—Canada will no longer be a haven for criminals.
- Stopping auto theft, extortion, fraud, and arson with new minimum penalties, no house arrest, and a new more serious offence for organized theft.
- Give police the power to end tent cities.
- Bringing in tougher penalties and a new law to crack down on Intimate Partner Violence.
- Restoring consecutive sentences for multiple murderers, so the worst mass murderers are never let back on our streets.
The Bring Home Jobs–For a Change Act
This Act will be rocket fuel for our economy. We will unleash Canada’s vast resource wealth, bring back investment, and create powerful paycheques for workers so we can stand on our own feet and stand up to Trump from a position of strength, by:
- Repealing the Liberal ‘No Development Law’, C-69 and Bill C-48, lifting the cap on Canadian energy to get major projects built, unlock our resources, and start selling Canadian energy to the world again.
- Bringing in the Canada First Reinvestment Tax Cut to reward Canadians who reinvest their earnings back into our country, unlocking billions for home building, manufacturing, and tools, training and technology to boost productivity for Canadian workers.
- Creating a One-Stop-Shop to safely and rapidly approve resource projects, with one simple application and one environmental review within one year.
Poilievre will also:
- Call President Trump to end the damaging and unjustified tariffs and accelerate negotiations to replace CUSMA with a new deal on trade and security. We need certainty—not chaos, but Conservatives will never compromise on our sovereignty and security.
- Get Phase 2 of LNG Canada built to double the project’s natural gas production.
- Accelerate at least nine other projects currently snarled in Liberal red tape to get workers working and Canada building again.
“After the Lost Liberal Decade of rising costs and crime and a falling economy under America’s thumb, we cannot afford a fourth Liberal term,” said Poilievre. “We need real change, and that is what Conservatives will bring in the first 100 days of a new government. A new Conservative government will get to work on Day 1 and we won’t stop until we have delivered the change we promised, the change Canadians deserve, the change Canadians voted for.”
Automotive
Canadians’ Interest in Buying an EV Falls for Third Year in a Row

From Energy Now
Electric vehicle prices fell 7.8 per cent in the last quarter of 2024 year-over-year, according to the AutoTader price index
Fewer Canadians are considering buying an electric vehicle, marking the third year in a row interest has dropped despite lower EV prices, a survey from AutoTrader shows.
Forty-two per cent of survey respondents say they’re considering an EV as their next vehicle, down from 46 per cent last year. In 2022, 68 per cent said they would consider buying an EV.
Meanwhile, 29 per cent of respondents say they would exclusively consider buying an EV — a significant drop from 40 per cent last year.
The report, which surveyed 1,801 people on the AutoTrader website, shows drivers are concerned about reduced government incentives, a lack of infrastructure and long-term costs despite falling prices.
Electric vehicle prices fell 7.8 per cent in the last quarter of 2024 year-over-year, according to the AutoTader price index.
The survey, conducted between Feb. 13 and March 12, shows 68 per cent of non-EV owners say government incentives could influence their decision, while a little over half say incentives increase their confidence in buying an EV.
-
2025 Federal Election1 day ago
Study links B.C.’s drug policies to more overdoses, but researchers urge caution
-
Business2 days ago
Chinese firm unveils palm-based biometric ID payments, sparking fresh privacy concerns
-
2025 Federal Election1 day ago
Carney’s Hidden Climate Finance Agenda
-
Business1 day ago
Is Government Inflation Reporting Accurate?
-
conflict2 days ago
Marco Rubio says US could soon ‘move on’ from Ukraine conflict: ‘This is not our war’
-
2025 Federal Election2 days ago
Conservatives promise to ban firing of Canadian federal workers based on COVID jab status
-
Censorship Industrial Complex2 days ago
Is free speech over in the UK? Government censorship reaches frightening new levels
-
International2 days ago
Pope Francis Got Canadian History Wrong