Conservatives, Liberals called out over lack of 'prudence' in platforms

Pierre Poilievre is defending the Conservative campaign platform's heavy reliance on economic growth in a period ofdeep uncertainty, while the NDP and Liberals spar over cost-cutting.

The Conservative leader was campaigning in Hamilton, Ont., on Wednesday, with just days to go before the federal vote on Monday and a day after he released the party's costed campaign platform.

That plan promises to reduce the federal deficit to $14 billion in four years. It also banks on billions of dollars in unrealized revenues from cutting "red tape" and getting new projects built over that horizon.

Poilievre was asked Wednesday whether those projections are realistic given Canada is just two months into a trade war with the United States — and as some economists predict the country could hit a recession if the trade uncertainty is not resolved quickly.

"Now, you ask me in a period of economic weakness, after the Liberals have been in power for three terms, whether it is wise to campaign on economic growth? It's not only wise, it's essential for a change that we grow our economy," he said.

Poilievre said he would end Liberal laws that he claims are holding back economic growth and the ability to get resources to market. He also attacked the spending levels in Liberal Leader Mark Carney's campaign platform.

Carney returned fire Wednesday, calling the Conservative platform “a fantasy of fiscal tricks and phantom growth.”

Carney said a day earlier that his "numbers are prudent" and the Liberal plan does not "rely" on rosy predictions in a global climate of economic uncertainty driven by the United States' trade war.

"We are in a crisis. In a crisis, you always plan for the worst, you don't hope for the best, and you don't make those types of assumptions," he said Tuesday.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy, a non-partisan think-tank at the University of Ottawa, released its grades Tuesday for the three main parties' campaign platforms. It gave the Liberals a rating of "good" while the Conservativesand NDP both received a "pass."

The final scores for each of the parties were actually quite close: 35/44 for the Liberals, 33.5/44 for the Conservativesand 31/44 for the NDP.

The institute criticized both the Liberal and Conservative platforms on the question of "prudence" — how they account for fiscal and economic risks and unforeseen events.

It said both platforms included "no consideration of prudenceand risk" in their "optimistic" outlooks and gave both campaigns a score of two out of four on prudence.

Commenting on the Conservative platform, the institute noted that the Government of Canada's planning framework "does not typically book additional revenues for new measures and should not book efficiency savings before having been achieved, since past results have proven disappointing."

The NDP received a score of three out of four on prudencebecause its platform included a small contingency reserve and made use of the Bank of Canada's recent economic scenarios for a wider range of tariff impacts.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was in Edmonton on Wednesday warning Canadians about program cuts under a possible Liberal government, and arguing that electing New Democrat members of Parliament would help keep the Liberals in check.

The Liberal platform plans for $28 billion in unspecified cost cuts from "increased government productivity." Carney said Tuesday that he expects a Liberal government would actually "exceed those cost reductions."

"That is going to be devastating," Singh said Wednesday. "We cannot afford that. We can't let him have all the power. You need New Democrats to fight back and stop those cuts."

Carney was asked during a campaign stop in Victoria on Wednesday to respond to the NDP's claim that his planned cuts would sacrifice programs Canadians care about.

He answered by affirming his commitment to $10-a-day child care, dental care and pharmacare, funding the CBC and continuing to address environmental concerns.

"Progressive policies — I think of them more as policies and institutions that are at the heart of this country because we care about each other," Carney said.

But he claimed a Conservative government would spell the end of those priorities for progressive voters.

Poilievre has said during the campaign that Canadian currently enrolled in the government's pharmacare or dental care plans will not lose that coverage under a Conservative government.

Polls suggest the Liberals are leading the Conservatives, and 55 per cent of those polled by Leger recently said they think Carney and the Liberals will win.

Singh has seen support for his party dwindle during this campaign; the latest Leger poll suggests just 8 per cent ofCanadians are planning to vote for a New Democrat. Singh is planning to campaign in Edmonton on Wednesday before participating in a virtual forum with the Assembly of First Nations.

— with files from Alessia Passafiume and Kyle Duggan inOttawa