Due to low polling numbers and to facilitate a Liberal leadership race, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shut down Parliament on January 6. Consequently, the Liberal Cabinet utilized two special warrants to allocate $73.4 billion in spending without parliamentary approval.

On May 2, the Treasury Board approved $33,102,676,499 in funding to service the public good, with Parliament not currently in session.

"Any initiative that is to be considered for funding through a special warrant must have the appropriate cabinet and Treasury Board approval," reads a 2011 report, Special Warrants.

Stephen Harper's cabinet last used Special Warrants in 2011 to keep essential services running during an election. They spent 9% of their yearly budget this way after losing a confidence vote.

The 2011 report explains that these warrants are issued when a minister reports an urgent public expenditure and the President of the Treasury Board reports no available funding.

A total of $40,343,209,650 in Special Warrants was posted April 12 to fund federal departments and agencies, reported Blacklock’s, until Parliament votes on budget bills in the coming months.

On the recommendation of the President of the Treasury Board, under subsection 30(1) of the Financial Administration Act, the Governor General in Council directs the preparation and signing of a special warrant. This warrant authorizes a payment of $33,102,676,499, effective May 16, 2025, from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

"Whereas the President of the Treasury Board reports that … the payment of these sums is urgently required for the public good," reads the Order-in-Council.

Parliament has not passed a Budget Implementation Act since last June 19.

Conservative filibusters stalled cabinet proposals, including a $17.4 billion capital gains tax increase, for over two months because cabinet refused to release documents on insider trading at Sustainable Development Technology Canada.

The Opposition awaited documents detailing $856 million in corporate awards from the "green slush fund," rife with conflicts of interest.

Trudeau blamed the Poilievre Conservatives for the parliamentary gridlock, despite delays from his own departments in producing the requested documents.

"The fact Conservatives have … totally bogged down [parliament], preventing us from passing legislation to support Canadians, proves the point I was making earlier: the federal Conservatives only care about amplifying problems and not actually providing help," Trudeau told reporters last November 22.

He then prorogued Parliament on January 6. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney dropped the writ on March 23, one day before the House was to resume. His party secured 170 seats, two shy of a majority government.

During the election campaign, Carney announced $129 billion in new deficit spending over four years, promising to balance the operating budget by 2028/29 while still incurring a $48 billion capital deficit. 

"We need to build. We need to invest," Carney said last month. "We are in a crisis, the worst crisis of our lifetimes … because we are in a fundamental reordering of our relationship with the United States and the global economy," he added.

The Prime Minister previously criticized Trudeau's deficit spending, despite advising the prior government during large pandemic and post-pandemic deficits.

Carney's $62.3 billion deficit this fiscal year exceeds the $61.9 billion from 2023/24 and the pre-pandemic record of $55.6 billion after the 2008 financial crisis.

Please help me stop Mark Carney — before it’s too late!

Mark Carney wasn’t elected — he was installed by the global elites. And now that he’s in charge, they think they’ve won. But not if we have anything to say about it. While the bought-and-paid-for media slobber over their new golden boy, we’re hitting the streets, digging into his World Economic Forum playbook, and calling out the radical agenda they’re trying to ram down Canada’s throat. This is the fight of our lives — and we’re not backing down. Help us keep our reporters on the ground, our billboard truck on the move, and our message uncensored. Pitch in now if you want to stop Mark Carney before he does irreversible damage.

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