2 weeks Ago By Ari Yanover
OTTAWA — Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives aren’t promising to balance the budget in a first term of government, thanks to a bevy of tax cuts and $34 billion in new spending, according to their costed platform released Tuesday. The Conservative Party of Canada plan promises over $70 billion in tax reductions on top of new government spending by 2028-29. It also says any new taxes should face a “referendum” from voters.
The document reprises all of Poilievre’s promises made during the campaign, but also details a number of additional spending commitments or tax cuts. “It is a plan that will lower taxes and debt by getting rid of bureaucracy, consulting fees, waste and excessive foreign aid..
. It is a plan to build homes by removing taxes and bureaucracy. It is a plan for safe streets by locking up criminals for a change,” Poilievre said during the platform launch in a banquet hall in Vaughan, Ont.
He was surrounded by Conservative candidates from the Greater Toronto Area. Over four years, a Poilievre government would incur a roughly $31 billion annual deficit in 2025-26 and 2026-27, $23 billion in 2027-28 and nearly $15 billion in 2028-29, according to the document. But a large chunk of expected new revenues comes from a projected $20 billion in tariffs collected this year from Canada’s response to the trade war launched by the United States.
Poilievre has frequently promised the $20 billion in counter-tariff revenue would go back to Canadians in the form of direct support or tax cuts and that “not one penny will go to other government spending.” China linked to fake 'wanted' poster, repression efforts against Conservative candidateThese federal candidates are battling for their lives. And they're still campaigning But proposed tax cuts in 2025-26 appeared to amount to roughly $11 billion, in addition to a $150 million “Keep Canadians Working Fund” for that year.
Any remaining revenue from retaliatory tariffs will go to pay for platform commitments the following year, a senior Conservative policy source said during a background briefing. The Conservatives are not committing to balance the budget within Poilievre’s first four years in office. Instead, they expect to run $100 billion in deficits during a first full term, which is roughly $40 billion less than currently projected by the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
Poilievre is projecting that repealing various laws and regulations implemented by the Liberal government combined with his proposed tax cuts will lead to significant new revenue — $72 billion over four years. For example, the document suggests that repealing the Liberals’ electric vehicle mandate will generate over $11 billion in revenue by 2028-2029, while axing both the consumer and industrial carbon taxes will “boost the economy” to the tune of $9.2 billion in new government money in four years.
The platform was immediately criticized by opposing parties, with Liberal Leader Mark Carney calling Poilievre’s projections a “joke” amid a historic trade war with the U.S., Canada’s foremost trading partner.
“There’s a phantom growth that comes from the sky in his platform that arrives and changes his numbers, even though he doesn’t have a plan to fight against President Trump,” Carney said. “These numbers are a joke. We aren’t in a joke.
We are in the worst crisis of our lives.” During his press conference, Poilievre criticized Carney for wanting to add to the deficit while he pledged to reduce it. On Saturday, the Liberals released a platform that promised $130 billion in spending on new measures over the next four years, and no commitment to balance the budget.
Poilievre’s platform reiterated his party’s promises to make sweeping criminal justice reforms, repeal a collection of Liberal environmental and energy laws and regulations, as well as to cut fees to boost home construction. The platform detailed many of those promises. For example, it said that Poilievre’s commitment to cut the lowest personal income tax rate from 15 per cent to 12.
75 per cent would be phased in gradually with three annual 0.75-percentage-point drops starting in the 2026 tax year. That means the bulk of the cut will be in place by the 2028 tax year.
It also reaffirms the Conservatives’ commitment to cut Canada’s foreign aid budget, beginning with $1.3 billion in the first year and $2.8 billion in four years.
The senior policy adviser National Post spoke to said the party did not have a “specific laundry list” of programs in its sights other than cutting funding to United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The federal government has given $65 million to UNRWA since 2023 . The platform includes new promises or additional details to previous commitments made by the Conservatives over the election campaign.
For example, it commits to “never hike taxes,” and to pass a new bill that would force the government to hold a referendum every time it wants to put in place new taxes or increase existing ones. The party is proposing to “streamline” the bureaucracy by replacing only two of every three departing public servants. It also proposes removing “most” university education requirements for public service jobs.
It is also committing to reducing government spending on consultants — which grew near-exponentially under the Liberals — to 2015 levels. That should generate over $23 billion in savings, according to the platform. Within 100 days of the election, a Conservative government would also identify 15 per cent of federal buildings and lands to sell in order to help create more housing.
The document makes further criminal justice proposals, such as barring convicted murderers from seeking parole if a victim’s body is not found. “Convicted murderers should never be given parole when they are withholding information or evidence that grieving families can use to get closure,” reads the document. The Conservatives have already promised the “biggest crackdown on crime in Canadian history” with a new “three strikes” law for serious offences and major reforms of the federal bail program.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also argued that the Poilievre’s numbers don’t add up. “The Conservative math is not mathing..
. I don’t know where he’s coming up with his numbers. They don’t seem to be based in reality, and he’s kind of making things up,” Singh said of Poilievre.
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