Liberal Leader Mark Carney announces the release of his party's platform at Durham College in Whitby, Ont. April 19.Carlos Osorio/Reuters
Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s election platform relies on larger projected deficits in the coming years and $28-billion over four years in undefined spending cuts to cover the cost of his party’s campaign promises.
With advance voting under way this weekend and just over a week left until election day on April 28, the Liberal Party released its costed platform Saturday morning.
Mr. Carney and the other federal party leaders have been making large spending and tax-cut announcements throughout the campaign but went into the two election debates before releasing platforms that explain how the promises would be funded. While the NDP also released its platform on Saturday, the Conservatives have yet to do so and say that will happen in the coming days.
The Liberal platform includes some new spending items that have not previously been announced, such as funding for in vitro fertilization, but most of the pledges were mentioned during the campaign.
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The platform outlines nearly $130-billion in new spending over four years, or about $32-billion per year on average.
Spending on defence and housing, along with tax cuts, are among the largest items in the platform in terms of fiscal cost.
“We’re not spending that amount of money. We’re investing that amount of money,” Mr. Carney said at a campaign event in Whitby, Ont.
The Liberal plan pledges to encourage activity that generates new private investment and ultimately spurs stronger economic growth.
“We’re using very limited government resources to catalyze enormous private-sector investment,” Mr. Carney said.
Mr. Carney, who has accused Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of planning to cut services to reduce spending, did not explain precisely how a Liberal government would find $28-billion in savings.
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The Liberal Leader said he expects a government led by him would actually find more savings than listed. He pointed to not replacing some retiring public servants, cutting back on external consultants and reviewing government programs as examples of where savings can be found.
“We will not cut any transfers to provinces, to territories or individuals,” he said. “We will protect all of those but will balance our operating budget over the next three years by cutting waste, by eliminating duplication and by deploying technology.”
Mr. Poilievre said the Liberal platform shows Mr. Carney will run even larger deficits than his predecessor projected.
“It’s a shocking plan, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise, because it is consistent with Mark Carney’s record. Everywhere he goes, his advice leads to more money printing and debt,” he said at a news conference in Richmond, B.C., where he promised to “soon” release his Conservative platform.
“We will bring down inflation, deficits, taxes and spending, contrary to what you’ve seen from this latest Liberal spending bonanza,” he said.
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The NDP released a statement criticizing Mr. Carney’s plan to reverse an increase in capital gains taxes while cutting spending, calling the Liberal platform a plan for “tax breaks for millionaires and service cuts for everyone else.”
In Burnaby, B.C., NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the Liberals are proposing cuts at a time of potential recession, uncertainty and anxiety. “That is the last thing we need. We need investments in people.”
Among the newly announced promises in the platform is a pledge to create an in vitro fertilization (IVF) program that provides up to $20,000 for a single standard cycle of IVF treatment.
The platform also promises to reach a target of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence by the 2029-30 fiscal year.
“There is a huge defence spend in this plan,” he said, while later adding that Canada may need to increase that spending level further.
The platform also includes previously announced campaign promises, including a tax cut on the lowest bracket that will save dual-income families up to $825 a year and several housing programs aimed at increasing residential construction.
The starting point for the Liberal platform’s costing is a baseline released last month by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, which showed the federal deficit falling from 1.47 per cent of GDP this fiscal year to 1 per cent next year.
That PBO report did not attempt to account for the economic impact of the trade disputes over tariffs between Canada and the United States – and neither does the Liberal platform.
In the December fiscal update, the government of former prime minister Justin Trudeau had said keeping the deficit below 1 per cent of GDP as of the 2026-27 year was an example that would demonstrate fiscal sustainability.
However, that target is being set aside in Mr. Carney’s platform, which projects a deficit of 1.96 per cent of GDP ($62.3-billion) this fiscal year, followed by 1.83 per cent of GDP ($59.9-billion) the next year.
The platform says the deficit-to-GDP ratio will decline to 1.36 per cent in 2028-29.
The Liberal platform does not make any adjustments to account for trade impacts.
It does however include $20-billion in expected revenue for the current fiscal year from Canadian-imposed countertariffs. The Liberals have said the revenue from new tariffs will be used to fund support for affected workers and businesses.
The Liberal platform also breaks down spending into two categories: operating and capital.
Historically, federal budgets and other financial reports do not categorize spending in this way, but Mr. Carney has said this approach is inspired by other countries such as the United Kingdom and is meant to show that the government is emphasizing capital spending that supports long-term investment.
The platform shows a $9.2-billion deficit in operating spending for the current fiscal year that will become a small surplus by the 2028-29 fiscal year.
“This new approach will not change how Canada’s public accounts are built and will maintain generally accepted accounting principles. It will create a more transparent categorization of the expenditure that contributes to capital formation in Canada,” the platform states.
While the platform accounts for revenue from countertariffs this year, it does not include further revenue in future years. Mr. Carney was asked whether that means he assumes the tariff dispute will be over by next year.
Mr. Carney said he is being prudent and will adjust to trade issues as they evolve.
“We don’t want to rely on those tariff revenues,” Mr. Carney said, while adding that the assumptions related to tariffs underscore the unusualness of the current economic climate.
“We are in the middle of the biggest crisis of our lifetimes. And this is a plan that meets that moment in a way that is very prudent with people’s hard-earned tax dollars, but bold in terms of where this country can go. And I tell you, Canadians want to be bold,” he said.
Queen’s University professor Don Drummond, a former senior federal finance official who also led a cost-cutting exercise for the Ontario government, said the Liberal personal income tax cuts are hard to justify when they are financed through larger deficits.
He also said $28-billion will be challenging to find through efficiencies.
“They count deep cuts from a relatively small pool of residual spending once major transfers to individuals and provinces and defence are excluded,” he said in an e-mail Saturday, before pointing to the challenges of internal spending cuts taking place south of the border by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “I know this is difficult. Even Musk’s chainsaw isn’t finding huge savings but is incapacitating public services.”
With a report from Ian Bailey