‘We live in a functional kleptocracy’: Ottawa has no plan to stop the spending as budget revealed
Hours before Budget 2026 was tabled, Lise Merle and Tamara Ugolini went through the warnings from fiscal watchdogs, including a C.D. Howe Institute call for real spending restraint and projections of soaring interest costs.
On Thursday's Rebel Roundup, hours before Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne tabled Budget 2026, hosts Lise Merle and Tamara Ugolini went through what fiscal hawks were watching for, from a Bloomberg preview to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.
The hosts said the Liberals had shown no sign of a plan to rein in spending. “There's no plan to balance that budget,” Tamara said, recalling former prime minister Justin Trudeau's line that the budget would balance itself.
Tamara pointed to the C.D. Howe report, “Grading Tomorrow's Federal Budget,” written by former associate deputy minister of finance Don Drummond and institute president William Robson. The authors called for far more serious restraint than the government's proposed internal program review. “These aren't just some fringe guys. These are insiders. They are the establishment,” she said.
The parliamentary budget officer's latest outlook projects a $63.3-billion deficit this year, growing to $67.8 billion by 2030-31, with interest on the debt climbing from $59.3 billion to $83 billion over the same stretch. The budget tabled later that day projected a $62.3-billion deficit this year.
“That's really money spent on nothing but past borrowing,” Tamara said. “That's not new. That's not enhanced programs.”
“We live in a functional kleptocracy where the government just takes and takes and takes and takes, pillages the bank accounts of Canadians and there is no accountability,” Lise said. “No accountability and no plan to get any of it under control.”
The hosts called for a full audit of federal spending, arguing that a change of government would bring “an automatic review.” “We need an Elon Musk-style DOGE to happen. Full sweep of the government spending,” Tamara said.
They also took aim at Champagne's call to “invest in sovereignty” and at Prime Minister Mark Carney's budget slogan, “Masters of our destiny.” “I fund all of this apparatus, but I don't think that I'm the master of it,” Tamara said. “I don't think that Mark Carney is qualified to be the master of our destiny,” Lise added.
Rebel News goes live every weekday at 1 p.m. ET (11 a.m. MT) to break down the day's biggest stories. Watch at RebelNews.com/live.
Livestream Clips
Catch the most impactful clips from our daily news livestream, Rebel Roundup, featuring breaking stories, bold opinions, and exclusive insights from our top reporters. Stay informed and never miss a moment—watch now!
https://www.rebelnews.com/live
