The nation’s finances under the stewardship of globalist-banker-turned-Prime Minister Mark Carney have worsened. A recent RBC report detailed that between 2015 and 2024, during the Justin Trudeau era, more than a $1 trillion of investment left the country – “the largest capital exodus in Canadian history.” The Trudeau era is coined “Canada’s Lost Decade” due to its horrendous policies that led to the demise of the country’s economy. So, it is disconcerting that the fiscal numbers and economic data in Ottawa over the past year are uglier with Carney as prime minister than with his predecessor. Here are the uglier numbers in Mark Carney’s Ottawa.
$502,830,000,000: The Carney government will increase spending this fiscal year, according to the government estimates for fiscal year 2026-27. Ottawa plans to spend more than half a trillion dollars. The Carney government is spending more than the annual amounts spent by the Trudeau government. Looking over the term of a five-year mandate, the Carney government plans to spend nearly $50 billion more on programs than the Trudeau government projected over the same period. In reality, the Carney spending plans will likely be even tens of billions of dollars more than that, given last month it announced $54 billion in new spending over six years since its November budget.
$66,900,000,000: The recent spring economic statement heralded a 2025-26 deficit of $66.9 billion as if this was a result of prudent fiscal management. Carney said it was “good news” even though it is more than twice as much as Trudeau had projected for the deficit this year ($31 billion). In explaining their increased spending plans, the government introduced a new accounting method that splits its expenditures between capital and operating budgets. It declared it would “balance operating spending with revenues by 2028-29” even though there are planned deficits of between $53 billion and $63 billion for every year of the Carney mandate and beyond through 2030-31. The uglier numbers show that with the fiscal plan the deficits will be much higher through this decade than was projected by Trudeau – and this year the nation’s debt will exceed $1.4 trillion. This doubles Canada’s debt load since the Liberals first took office. The Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) was not amused with Carney’s fancy new accounting: “There’s a widening gap between the government’s ‘economic seriousness’ narrative and the actual fiscal trajectory. Repackaging deficits through accounting changes or selective metrics doesn’t change the fundamentals—persistent shortfalls and rising debt costs point to a structural imbalance.” The MEI advised: “Canada’s growth depends on creating the right conditions for investment and entrepreneurship, which requires credible spending discipline and a clear path back to balance budgets.”
More than $1 billion per week: In the spring economic statement the government stated Canadians are paying $58.7 billion this year on debt servicing charges – and that is more than the federal government spends on health care transfers ($57.4 billion). Canadian taxpayers are paying $1.03 billion a week in interest on the national debt – that is $147 million a day, $6.125 million an hour – or $1,700 in a blink of an eye. The bad news for Canadians is that with the Carney Liberals’ unbridled spending these figures will get worse: the debt charges rise again next year to $65.7 billion and they will reach $80.9 billion in 2030-31. Parliamentary Budget Officer Annette Ryan breaks down how much this costs each Canadian: the federal debt charges per Canadian per year – that is the interest cost of that debt – will rise from $1,409 to $1,901 (in five years).
New $25 billion fund: The Canada Strong Fund is being promoted by the Carney Liberals as Canada’s new $25-billion sovereign wealth fund. In a traditional sense, a “sovereign wealth fund” is a government investment fund that manages national savings for the country’s future, which has been accumulated from surpluses like a country’s resource revenues or trade balances. In the case of Carney’s Canadian fund that was just announced, it is being established from new debt and there has been no investment criteria shared on how the money is to be spent other than to say on the government’s projects of national interest. In other words, the fund is borrowed money from future Canadian taxpayers to be shoveled towards the government’s own choice projects. Consider that this will only be profitable for Canadians if the actual returns on the government spending in projects like the high-speed rail project or the Pathways carbon capture project exceeds the borrowing cost of carrying the $25 billion debt; otherwise, the Canada Strong Fund becomes another liability line item on the government’s ledger – and further debt for Canadians. Further to this, Conservative MP Sandra Cobena uncovered in exchanges in a parliamentary committee that the new fund was not accounted for in the spring economic statement, was not discussed with the Bank of Canada, and the department of finance officials had no details on costs, debt projections, or infrastructure requirements with the fund. MP Cobena summed it up in one word: “UNBELIEVABLE.”
New $1.5 billion relief program: The government announced $1.5 billion available in loans to support Canadian manufacturing and export companies affected by U.S. tariffs on products containing steel, aluminum, and copper. Like the Canada Strong Fund, it appears this government funding was not accounted for in the spring economic statement. Conservative industry critic MP Raquel Dancho stated, “Real relief does not come from government loan programs. It comes from getting tariffs reduced or eliminated.” Conservative Niagara West – Glanbrook MP Dean Allison was more pointed in his criticism on X: “Nothing says ‘strong economy’ like a $1B rescue package for your core industries. Apparently the plan is: Make it expensive to operate → drive investment out → step in with taxpayer-backed ‘support’ → call it leadership. Steel, aluminum, copper, foundational sectors now need zero-interest loans just to stay competitive. But don’t worry, we’re told everything is on track. Great strategy. Break it, then subsidize it. What could possibly go wrong.”
$270 more to Ukraine: During his recent appearance at the European Summit in Armenia, Carney had a photo op with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to announce another $270 million in military aid funding to the war effort. These Canadian funds will pay for munitions made in the U.S. The prime minister’s latest commitment brings Canada’s total number to $25.8 billion in a little over three years since the war first began.
$217,700: On April 1, MPs got their annual raise. The salary for a MP now is $217,700, ministers are paid $321,300, and the prime minister makes $441,600 annually. Let’s compare this to the average pay of a Canadian worker: $67,500 according to data from Statistics Canada. Canadians’ average household income is $107,000. So, MPs make three times a Canadian worker. And here are more outlandish pay figures from Ottawa: the average federal government employee makes $143,271 in annual pay and benefits, and that is two times the average working Canadian. That total increased 5.1 per cent last year, according to the federal budget office report. So, think about this: how many working Canadians does it take to pay for one Ottawa politician and one bureaucrat?
Ottawa is costing Canadians more. The federal government is getting bigger, and spending more. The Carney Liberals have continued in the practice of previous Liberal governments. It is a government that believes in central planning the economy, hence Carney’s new bureaucracies to manage housing construction, defence procurement, and a new major projects office to help fast track infrastructure projects through the maze of existing federal bureaucracy and regulations. It is a government that also believes in market intervention to pick winners and further ideological agendas – like bankrolling Canada’s EV industry or entrenching its carbon tax regime. This Liberal approach to the economy continues to ring up some very ugly numbers:
- 500,000 housing starts a year were promised and it is now exposed as nothing but a campaign slogan
- Only one project is underway with the Majors Project Office – the high-speed rail, which has awarded planning and consulting contracts to Liberal-friendly firms
- A $679,100 annual salary to the new defence procurement office head
- A $52 billion EV industrial strategy that is now seen as half green grifting and half pure fallacy
Last week, in the true spirit of Liberal management, the Carney government announced new defence contract and purchasing powers. These powers will permit sole sourcing and exemptions to government procurement practices when there are national and economic security factors to consider (as deemed by cabinet).
For a globalist banker these are ugly numbers. For Canadians who are depending on this prime minister to be better than his predecessor Trudeau, these are uglier numbers still.
Chris George is an advocate, government relations advisor, and writer/copy editor. As president of a public relations firm established in 1994, Chris provides discreet counsel, tactical advice and management skills to CEOs/Presidents, Boards of Directors and senior executive teams in executing public and government relations campaigns and managing issues. Prior to this PR/GR career, Chris spent seven years on Parliament Hill on staffs of Cabinet Ministers and MPs. He has served in senior campaign positions for electoral and advocacy campaigns at every level of government. Today, Chris resides in Almonte, Ontario where he and his wife manage www.cgacommunications.com. Contact Chris at chrisg.george@gmail.com.
