Poilievre accuses Freeland of ‘hiding’ this year’s deficit, adds Liberals have ‘lost control’

"Why won’t the finance minister tell us the true number? What’s she hiding? Is she hiding that Trudeau lost control of the deficit this year, just like every year?" Poilievre told reporters.

Alex Dhaliwal
  |   December 06, 2024   |   News   |   1 Comment

The Official Opposition wants to see how ‘poorly’ Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has managed Canada’s finances, and is giving her time early next week to table her fiscal update.

“We’ll give her two hours out of our Conservative opposition motion day on Monday for her to stand on her feet and tell us how much she’s lost control of the nation’s finances,” Poilievre said Wednesday afternoon.

Minister Freeland has accused the Tories of delaying the process, owing to a parliamentary gridlock stemming from the defunct “green slush fund.”

“That has real consequences,” she said.

“We’ll present a full fiscal picture when we present the fall economic statement,” Freeland told reporters, noncommittal to the Monday deadline imposed by the Tories. 

Poilievre attributes the delay to Freeland ‘hiding the real numbers.’ The 2024/25 federal deficit has already changed twice — once with Cabinet’s April 16 budget ($39.8 billion) and again ($46.4 billion) with the October 17 Budget Office report Economic And Fiscal Outlook October 2024. “This increase is largely due to new spending,” wrote analysts.

“How do you account for that change?” asked a reporter on October 22. “That is just a Budget Office report,” replied Freeland. “It’s not the final numbers.”

The Minister of Finance told MPs in November of 2023 that she would maintain deficit spending at $40.1 billion this fiscal year. 

“Why won’t the finance minister tell us the true number? What’s she hiding? Is she hiding that Trudeau lost control of the deficit this year, just like every year?” Poilievre posed to the media.

So far, it doesn't appear the Trudeau government will take him up on the offer, but Freeland says to expect her update “soon”.

No date has been announced for the fall economic statement, reported the Canadian Press, though Minister Freeland has until December 21 to make it happen.

Nevertheless, Poilievre said his caucus will be ready to clear time for Freeland if she accepts the offer.

“So the challenge is over to Chrystia Freeland and Justin Trudeau. Stand on your feet Monday at 4 p.m. We’ll clear the deck, so you can do it and tell us how badly you’ve lost control of the nation’s finances,” he said.

It remains unknown whether the Trudeau government will meet its $40 billion pledge on the deficit.

Poilievre earlier condemned the Trudeau government for its out-of-control spending dating back to the last two fall updates.

“A year ago, this finance minister told her how she had the budget balanced by the year 2028. In that time, she has announced $100 billion of additional debt above and beyond having doubled that debt in the first place, he said. 

“Her solution: another $20 billion of inflationary spending.”

The 2022 fiscal update showed the federal government over budget by $20.2 billion. Budget 2022 projected $452.3 billion in spending, later updated to $472.5 billion.

Meanwhile, the 2023 fiscal update increased spending from $473.5 billion to $488.7 billion last fiscal year.

“The [2023] budget update [was] an admission that the government has a spending problem,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “Trudeau still isn’t serious about managing our finances or providing real tax relief,” he added.

Minister Freeland in 2023 testimony rejected claims that federal spending was out of control, amid rising debt service charges. “Our debt service charges are absolutely handleable,” she said at the time. 

Last fiscal year, debt servicing costs were $46.5 billion. They are expected to rise to $52.8 billion this year, and $60 billion by 2027. That surpasses what Parliament spends annually on Medicare or national defence. 

In a 2020 speech at the Toronto Global Forum, Freeland promised to cut spending at some point but did not clarify a spending limit. “We could be spending even more and public finances would still be sustainable,” the minister said earlier this year. 

The Trudeau government has never balanced the budget since first elected in 2015.

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Alex Dhaliwal

Calgary Based Journalist

Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.

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  • Bruce Atchison
    commented 2024-12-06 22:50:44 -0500
    All this insane spending is blurring into one big mess. Had any Conservative government done what just one Trudeau minister did, there’d be a total dissolving of the house. But Teflon Trudeau continues to escape prosecution. The whole mob must be tossed out.