In the recent federal election, the prominent ballot-box question that weighted heavily on the hearts and minds of Canadians was the threats from the United States.
Canadians elected new Liberal Leader Mark Carney as their prime minister to fight against American President Donald Trump. “Elbows Up” was the central message during the campaign, but the strategy Carney has taken so far has been to appease Trump. Counter-tariff measures are off the table. In the name of border security, government overreach that infringes our privacy and violates due process is being justified. Trump-like border and immigration measures are creeping in. Massive cuts to public services and programs are on the offer.
As Carney lay the tracks of his fiscal agenda, here’s what we have learned so far. Austerity is the name of the game, and to meet the eye-popping military spending commitment of five per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product, there will be deep cuts to programs and services to Canadians. Already, Carney has directed his ministers to cut operating spending of 7.5 per cent, 10 per cent, and 15 per cent to almost every other department over the next three years.
The price? Indigenous Services, seniors, women, people with disabilities, newcomers, arts and culture, and more will be hard hit. The Carney Liberals are backtracking and refusing to extend the NDP pharmacare deal with provinces and territories that have not yet signed the agreement prior to the election. At a time when costs are going up, his promise of no cuts to provincial and territorial transfers will effectively result in cuts to health care and social services on the ground for Canadians. Already we are witnessing the enormous pressure provinces faces in health care with emergency wards closing and staffing shortage. Post-secondary institutions are reeling from the loss of funding from the Liberals’ drastic and abrupt cuts to international students.
But that’s not all.
More than 57,000 public service jobs will be eliminated by 2028. That’s 57,000 families losing a breadwinner—and millions of Canadians losing timely access to the services they count on. All this, before a budget has even been tabled in Parliament nor have any of the future cuts to government programs been revealed.
We’ve been here before.
In the 1990s, austerity under the Liberal government under then-prime minister Jean Chrétien and finance minister Paul Martin gutted federal programs and hollowed out the public service. Services never fully recovered. The National Housing Program was decimated, and we are still suffering the consequences of that. The Liberals will be Liberals no matter what era.
Now, history is set to repeat itself. The Canada Revenue Agency is now facing more than 10,000 total job cuts. More call centres will be closed—which will mean being put on hold endlessly, slower benefit payments, and longer waits for refunds. Employment and Social Development Canada could lose more than 4,000 jobs, delaying EI and CPP support. Citizenship and Immigration will see nearly 3,300 jobs cut. There are already lengthy delays in processing, and this will only future entrench the strained backlogs for families desperate to reunite with loved ones, leaving their lives and their futures in limbo.
The Carney Liberals are breaking the social contract with Canadians that will result in deep ruptures to social cohesion across the country, and will only further exacerbate social divides.
Being prime minister and managing the Government of Canada is very different than being head of the Bank of Canada, working as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs, or as vice chairman for Brookfield Asset Management. The end game is not just profit ahead of people.
Canadians need a strong and principled government at a time of multiple crises unfolding domestically and internationally. Canadians were united in “elbows up” to protect our nation, our identity and sovereignty. They want a government that will grow our domestic economy, diversify, respect workers’ rights, honour Indigenous rights, protect the well-being of everyday people, and become less reliant on the U.S. They wanted to stop a Conservative government, and, most certainly, they did not elect the Liberals to deliver conservative policies camouflaged in Liberal red.
As the honeymoon period for the new Liberal government comes to a close, the NDP will continue to fight for everyday people and looks forward to holding the government’s feet to the fire every day in Parliament.
NDP MP Jenny Kwan is her party’s critic for housing, immigration, refugees and citizenship, public safety, national security, infrastructure and Pacific Economic Development.
