How will Liberals pay for billions in promised spending, loans? Freeland won't say if wealth taxes coming
While selectively rolling out elements targeting millennials and Generation Z, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland won't say whether next week's federal budget could include higher taxes for corporate Canada or major grocers.
On Tuesday, while touting the latest $500-million pre-budget pledge, Freeland faced questions from reporters about how the Liberals plan to finance what has now accumulated to more than $35 billion in new money and loans promised to be included the 2024 federal budget.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ruled out raising taxes on the middle class, pointing back to the Liberals' 2015 middle class tax cut.
This commitment came after Families Minister Jenna Sudds backtracked from saying there would be "no new taxes" introduced to stating Canadians would have to "see the budget" when pressed if that meant the Liberals had ruled out a wealth or excess profit tax.
When Freeland was asked Tuesday whether there are going to be new or higher taxes for wealthier Canadians or corporate Canada, she did not directly answer.
"Here's what I'll say about the fiscal picture in the budget. We recognize that there is an urgent need today to invest in Canada, and Canadians, and we recognize in particular that we're at really a pivotal moment for young Canadians… And that's something that we have to do something about. That requires investments. We are making them," Freeland said.
"We are absolutely committed to making those investments in a fiscally responsible framework. And we're going to do that."
In a follow-up question, Freeland was asked about a Liberal-backed NDP motion advanced at the House Finance Committee calling on the government to implement an excess profit tax on large grocery companies, and whether that's on the table for this budget.
"I was clear about the direction of travel for our government in my previous answer. So we really believe now is the moment that we have to make investments and we're going to do it, because Canada needs those investments. And especially young Canadians need us to make those investments," Freeland said in response.
Freeland went on to say that the Liberals still believe in balancing this new spending to remain fiscally responsible and not inflationary, but offer no indications about where additional revenue may come from other than insisting it will not be on the backs of "hardworking middle class Canadians."
In an interview on CTV News Channel's Power Play with Vassy Kapelos on Monday, Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux said based on his calculations, if the Liberals are looking to implement a wealth tax, it'll be "very delicate," given how easy it can be for these assets to be moved out of Canada.
As for an excess profit tax on corporations, Giroux said the Liberals would have to define what they consider normal profits, and face the risk of investors moving to other sectors that are less likely to be targeted by excess profit taxes.
Asked to explain why the government has chosen to pre-announce certain elements of the budget before it is tabled, Freeland said she thinks they "owe it to Canadians to explain to them what it is our government is doing" to meet the country's current challenges.
Freeland will be tabling the 2024 federal budget in the House of Commons one week from now.
Giroux said what he'll be looking for "is how all these expenditures are going to be financed."
"That'll be my main focus, whether it's taxes, we'll see, or whether it's a reduction in other areas."
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Princess Anne to take part in B.C. ceremony bringing new ship into Pacific fleet
Canada's first Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel will officially be brought into the Pacific fleet today and Princess Anne, the sister of King Charles, is scheduled to take part in its commissioning ceremony.
How falling for a stranger she met on a beach led this woman to ditch the U.S. for the French Riviera
Niki Benjamin, from the U.S., had travelled to a paradise island to do some soul searching, and her life ended up going in a very different direction when her dog ran up to a stranger.
NEW Biscuits with possible plastic pieces, metal found in ground pork: Here are the recalls for this week
Here are the latest recalls Canadians should watch out for, according to Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Police move in to clear NYU encampment, U.S. campus arrests grow to 2,200 in pro-Palestinian protests
Police moved in to clear an encampment at New York University on Friday at the request of school officials, a move that follows weeks of pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses nationwide that have resulted in nearly 2,200 arrests by police.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
More than half of Canadians say freedom of speech is under threat, new poll suggests
A new poll suggests a majority of Canadians feel their right to freedom of speech is in danger.
Feds giving Toronto more than $104M to host 2026 FIFA World Cup
The federal government will provide Toronto just over $104 million in funding to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Wally, the emotional support alligator once denied entry to a baseball game, is missing
Emotional support animal registrations in the United States reached 115,832 last year, by an industry group’s count. But in the eyes of reptile rescuer Joie Henney, there’s only one: 'Wally Gator.'
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Local Spotlight
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Road closed in Oak Bay, B.C., so elephant seal can cross
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
B.C. breweries take home awards at World Beer Cup
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Kitchener family says their 10-year-old needs life-saving drug that cost $600,000
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
Haida Elder suing Catholic Church and priest, hopes for 'healing and reconciliation'
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.