Spending to increase economic capacity is fiscally responsible, Freeland says in post-budget defence
Spending to increase economic capacity is fiscally responsible, Freeland says in post-budget defence
Defending her latest federal budget, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said spending that increases economic capacity is fiscally responsible.
"If you are making investments that increase the economic capacity of the country, that is fiscally responsible," Freeland told reporters on Wednesday after touring an Ottawa child-care centre to tout the 2023 spending plan.
Tuesday's budget unveiled continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care, and the clean economy, with Freeland pitching it as her plan to "do big things" while still staring down a potential recession.
But new Liberal spending coupled with a slowing economy has resulted in the 2023-24 federal deficit being nearly $10 billion more than the federal government had projected in the fall.
Freeland's defence of her economic approach came in response to a strong rebuke of the Liberals' freshly-revealed fiscal plans from one of Canada's largest banks.
"Governments did a fantastic job in the early days of the pandemic. The problem is that they are now addicted to high spending and delivering divisive jabs at certain interests. Nothing is being done about productivity and competitiveness pressures that are mounting year by year," wrote Scotiabank vice president and head of capital markets economics Derek Holt, in a report to clients.
"Big spending, big deficits, big debt, high taxes, high inflation and bond market challenges are not the path to prosperity."
Holt also cast doubt on the federal Liberals being able to make the kinds of cost savings they've committed to materialize.
"And if the NDP’s ongoing demands for a national pharmacare program resurface… then deficits will explode by even more," he wrote.
Freeland, who stated in presenting her budget that she was ready to "take on" anyone who questioned her approach, pointed to a post-budget briefing from former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz who argued that spending that expands economic capacity may not be inflationary.
"It's relevant to where we are, because he spoke about how our investment in the 2021 budget in early learning and child care has expanded the economic capacity of the country. It has improved women's labour force participation. That has driven economic growth… And his point was that our investments in building the clean economy could very well do the same thing. That's what we believe," Freeland said.
Also responding to criticism that the 2023 budget isn’t as economically prudent as he's framing it, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said alongside his deputy that the Liberal spending plan "is there to meet Canadians with what they need for right now, and for the coming years."
"Our plan is responsible," Trudeau said. "This is the right budget for the time."
Speaking during debate on the budget motion seeking the House "approve in general the budgetary policy of the government," Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre quipped about how big Canada's debt is.
"We're talking about a trillion. We have a problem here. There isn't actually a word for trillion in the French language. It doesn't actually exist. This government's debt is so big it violates the Official Languages Act," said Poilievre to an amused caucus seated around him in the House.
According to the budget, the country's overall debt is set to rise to $1.31 trillion over the next five years, and with continued high interest rates, the federal government is projected to pay $43.9 billion next year just servicing that debt.
"We now spend more on interest for debt than we spend on our military, more than we spend on child-care benefits, more than we spend on transfers for education and social services to the provinces, almost as much as we spend on health care," Poilievre said.
The budget is poised to move ahead without the Official Opposition, as the NDP is sticking to the supply-and-confidence agreement that sees the party prop up the Liberals on key votes including budgets.
In a speech to caucus touting the wins the New Democrats "forced" the Liberals into in this budget, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he was "proud" but "not satisfied," indicating they will keep pushing the Liberals do to more, including taking at least the pre-committed-to step of a legislative framework for pharmacare.
"Yesterday's budget shows that when New Democrats have power, we get things done for people. That's what it's shown," Singh said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's efforts to assure Canadians that his government is adequately addressing the threat of foreign interference took a hit on Wednesday, when the majority of MPs in the House of Commons voted for special rapporteur David Johnston to 'step aside,' a call Johnston quickly rejected.
A New Democrat MP is trying to convince his colleagues to change the rules that govern the House of Commons in a series of ways he says would instill 'democratic controls' on the prime minister's 'unfettered' powers.
Monday morning, the Public Service Alliance of Canada announced it had reached a 'tentative' agreement with the federal government for the 120,000 picketing Treasury Board workers who, since April 19, had been engaged in one of the largest strikes in Canadian history. Here's a rundown of the developments from Parliament Hill as they happened.
The House committee studying foreign election interference heard from top 2019 and 2021 Liberal and Conservative campaign directors on Tuesday, with party officials from both camps speaking about the need for politicians to come together to address any "legislative gaps" ahead of the next vote.
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.
Danielle Smith's win in the Alberta election hands her the most starkly divided province confronting any premier in Canada, writes commentator Don Martin.
Special rapporteur David Johnston didn't recommend public inquiry knowing it was a pathetically insufficient response for a foreign democratic assault of this magnitude, writes Don Martin in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
To frame a few new illustrations on pages tucked inside a passport as proof of a Liberal plot to purge the Canadian historical record seems like a severe stretch, writes Don Martin in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino is a bright former federal prosecutor, who was destined to be a star in Justin Trudeau's cabinet. But in an opinion column on CTVNews.ca, Don Martin argues Mendicino has taken a stunning fall from grace, stumbling badly on important issues just 18 months into the job.
It's the most peculiar of elections with the frontrunner and her main opponent being the same person, writes columnist Don Martin. 'In the looming Alberta showdown, it's Premier Danielle Smith versus her mouth.'
Canada's special rapporteur on foreign interference David Johnston calls the allegations swirling around his objectivity 'quite simply false,' and said Tuesday he plans to push ahead with his work, launching public hearings next month
During a record-setting wildfire season, experts say prevention of more disasters is important, citing a Canada-wide fire service could help mitigate blazes.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told Power Play host Vassy Kapelos it would 'greatly help' Canada's capacity to accelerate the fight against climate change if he didn't have to 'fight the Conservative Party of Canada.'
The lawyer representing a woman who alleges she was sexually harassed by a former Northwest Territories premier says her client would likely have to end her lawsuit if a judge determines the trial should be moved to Quebec.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the Liberals to keep "multiple murderers" in maximum-security prison, as fallout continues over the transfer of convicted killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security institution in Quebec.
The Canadian military has confirmed it participated in a May 2023 forum for Five Eyes intelligence partners that was held by the director of the Pentagon's UFO research program.
Global News and its parent company Corus Entertainment say in response to a lawsuit filed by Han Dong that their reporting about the Toronto MP was based on a detailed investigation involving multiple sources.
A rare manuscript detailing comedy shows and drinking songs from the 15th century revealed what medieval audiences found funny more than 500 years ago.
A global trade analyst says a potential strike for more than 7,000 terminal cargo movers in ports throughout British Columbia could have dire consequences for not only the Canadian economy, but globally as well.
While firefighters get more forest fires under control in northern Ontario, travel restrictions declared under an emergency order are being expanded in several communities.
Video shows Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) staff leading the rescue of a severely entangled humpback whale off the coast of British Columbia last week.
Canada's special rapporteur on foreign interference David Johnston calls the allegations swirling around his objectivity 'quite simply false,' and said Tuesday he plans to push ahead with his work, launching public hearings next month
During a record-setting wildfire season, experts say prevention of more disasters is important, citing a Canada-wide fire service could help mitigate blazes.
Federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair has said images of wildfires burning across Canada are some of the most severe ever witnessed in the country and the forecast for the next few months indicates the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wasted no time going after Donald Trump while launching his presidential campaign on Tuesday, calling the former president and current Republican primary front-runner a "lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog" and arguing that he's the only one who can stop him.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, a state department spokesperson told CNN, the latest step toward rapprochement between the U.S. government and the de facto leader of a key U.S. ally.
On Dec. 1, 2022, a boat carrying around 180 Rohingya refugees set out from Bangladesh, bound for Indonesia. On board were babies, pregnant women and children fleeing surging violence in Bangladesh's refugee camps. One week later, the boat vanished.
Lawyers for Ukraine told the United Nations' top court Tuesday that Russia bankrolled a 'campaign of intimidation and terror' by rebels in eastern Ukraine starting in 2014 and sought to replace Crimea's multiethnic community with 'discriminatory Russian nationalism' after its occupation and annexation of the region.
The gun violence epidemic in the United States was deadlier than ever in 2021, according to a new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
Seven people were shot, two fatally, when gunfire rang out Tuesday outside a downtown theater where a high school graduation ceremony had recently concluded, causing attendees to flee in panic, weep and clutch their children, authorities and witnesses reported.
Canada's special rapporteur on foreign interference David Johnston calls the allegations swirling around his objectivity 'quite simply false,' and said Tuesday he plans to push ahead with his work, launching public hearings next month
Global News and its parent company Corus Entertainment say in response to a lawsuit filed by Han Dong that their reporting about the Toronto MP was based on a detailed investigation involving multiple sources.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the Liberals to keep "multiple murderers" in maximum-security prison, as fallout continues over the transfer of convicted killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security institution in Quebec.
Two people died in what officials believe was a mass fentanyl overdose over the weekend involving five people in a hotel room in the Hawaii tourist mecca of Waikiki.
Federal safety regulators are urging consumers to stop using baby pillows that have been linked to 10 infant deaths but are still being sold on Facebook Marketplace, despite being recalled two years ago.
The James Webb Space Telescope set its sights on a galaxy 20 million light-years away, capturing a dazzling star-forming galaxy in images streaked with the signature of passing asteroids.
Reporters are a skeptical bunch, so it was unusual to hear so many of them raving about their firsthand experience with Apple's next Big Thing: the high-priced headset called Vision Pro, a device infused with totally virtual reality as well as augmented reality that projects digital images on top of real-world settings.
The Canadian military has confirmed it participated in a May 2023 forum for Five Eyes intelligence partners that was held by the director of the Pentagon's UFO research program.
Prince Harry testimony in a London court, both in cross-examination in the witness box and in his written witness statement, was rare and unusual. By turns defensive, frank and accusatory, his testimony shone a light on life as a royal and on Harry's bitter personal feud with the press. Here's what to know after a historic day at the High Court in London.
Francoise Gilot, a prolific and acclaimed painter who produced art for well more than a half-century but was nonetheless more famous for her turbulent relationship with Pablo Picasso -- and for leaving him -- died Tuesday in New York City, where she had lived for decades. She was 101.
Actors represented by the Hollywood union SAG-AFTRA voted Monday evening to authorize a strike if they don't agree on a new contract with major studios, streamers and production companies by June 30.
Lululemon’s CEO Calvin McDonald said the retailer stands by its decision to fire two employees who tried to intervene during a theft at one of its stores.
Across Canada, the average price of rent climbed back up after pandemic lows, with the monthly rate new tenants face now 20 per cent higher than it was two years ago, according to just-released rental data.
Global prices for wheat and corn soared Tuesday after a major dam in Ukraine collapsed, renewing market fears about the fragility of the country's ability to ship food to Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia as it fights a war with Russia.
Years ago, when my now-grown daughter Justine was a toddler, we visited a U-pick farm where she plucked plump, ripe strawberries from a field of sprawling plants. Some made it into the basket on that sunny June day; others went directly into her mouth.
A whisky brand co-founded by actor Kiefer Sutherland says it has raised more than $100,000 for relief efforts related to the ongoing Nova Scotia wildfires.
Jessica Tuomela is a swimmer and triathlete, and has been on the podium at the Paralympics, but says the feeling returning a missing person home safely is no comparison.
Aaron Judge is headed to the injured list for the second time this season after the New York Yankees star hurt his right toe making a spectacular catch at Dodger Stadium.
Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski expressed relief that two of his defensive players were not physically harmed while being robbed at gunpoint by six masked men outside a downtown nightclub.
On the eve of the RBC Canadian Open, news of a merger between the PGA Tour, European Tour and LIV Golf shocked the golf world -- including one of Canada's best players.
Insurance industry group Equite Association says vehicle theft in multiple provinces surged last year. Vehicle theft was up by 50 per cent in Quebec year over year, by 48.3 per cent in Ontario, by 34.5 per cent in Atlantic Canada and by 18.3 per cent in Alberta.
Ontario has committed to paying a third of the cost to save a $5-billion electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor, Ont., premier Doug Ford said Thursday.
Former Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone on Tuesday formally pleaded not guilty to a fraud charge over his alleged failure to declare millions of dollars held in a trust in Singapore to Britain's government.
