To truly be seen as an outsider, Carney has to walk the walk. Pictured: Mark Carney. Photo Credit: Mark Carney/X.
Liberal leadership hopeful Mark Carney loves to claim he’s an “outsider.”
If Carney really wants to be seen as an outsider, he needs to do more than say he is one. Carney needs to put his money where his mouth is and present a clear plan to fix the Trudeau government’s broken budget.
Carney seems to have recognized that Canadians are tired of runaway deficits and tax hikes. But he’s only promised to be different from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the vaguest possible terms.
“The prime minister and his team let their attention wander from the economy too often,” said Carney at the official launch of his leadership bid in Edmonton. “I won’t lose focus.
“I am going to be completely focused on getting our economy back on track.”
Carney may be trying to claim he’s not a politician, but that’s as political as an answer possibly could be.
No clarity. No substance. Just hot air.
Canadians don’t want to hear that Carney would do a better job than Trudeau by being more focused. They want to hear exactly how Carney would change the federal government’s damaging policies.
If Carney wants to differentiate himself from Trudeau’s managing of Canada’s finances, he needs to promise three things: a balanced budget, spending cuts paired with any new spending and leadership from the top.
First, Canadians want a balanced budget. Trudeau promised we’d have one in his fourth year in office. But we’re a decade in and the deficit is a whopping $48.3 billion.
The government currently has no path to balance. Taxpayers are on the hook for more than $1 billion a week in debt interest payments. And the feds now spend more on debt interest than health care.
That’s a recipe for a financial crisis. Carney needs to promise to balance the budget. And he needs to promise to balance the budget this year, not in a decade.
Carney also has to get that done through cutting spending, not raising taxes.
The Trudeau government has raised taxes every year since 2015. Over the past year alone, the feds have increased includes capital gains taxes, payroll taxes, alcohol taxes and carbon taxes. Canadians can’t afford higher taxes.
The budget must be balanced, but that balanced budget must come from cutting wasteful spending.
The Trudeau government has increased spending by more than $250 billion since coming into office. That’s more than $100 billion more than the rate of inflation plus population growth. So, there should be plenty of room to find savings.
Second, Carney needs to offer a plan to keep any new spending under control. For too long, governments have simply added new spending plans without any concern for how to pay for them. That’s become a hallmark of the Trudeau government.
Carney should commit to pairing any new spending with specific spending cuts. Every single promise he makes should be fully paid for. And the spending cuts should be clearly identified. Canadians don’t just want vague generalities. They want specifics.
Third, Canadians want leadership from the top. Taxpayers have been going through hard times. It’s demoralizing for Canadians to see credit card bills pile up while the prime minister eats fancy food, jets all over the world, stays in $6,000 hotel rooms, and sticks taxpayers with the bill.
Canadians want a leader who lives like them.
Trudeau has acted like a prince. Carney should pledge to be different.
This won’t all be easy. Should Carney become prime minister, he would face a massive deficit and a bureaucracy desperate to spend billions on pet projects.
But Canadians want a leader who will cut the fat in government and show leadership. If Carney isn’t prepared to do that, he’d better stop calling himself an outsider.
Jay Goldberg is the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. He previously served as a policy fellow at the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Jay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
