Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre needled Prime Minister Mark Carney over the size of the federal deficit Friday in a speech offering his critique of the Liberal budget tabled on Nov. 4.
Poilievre delivered his address to a business crowd at the Economic Club of Canada, a few blocks away from the Canadian Club Toronto — where Carney was outlining the vision behind his federal budget at the same time.
Poilievre's speech, which repurposed some proposals from the Conservative election campaign in the spring, largely championed a free-market ethos.
"What you really have as a difference between us, between the Carney Liberals and the Poilievre Conservatives, is this: They believe in adding new obstacles for all of you, and then asking you to go to them and ask for a handout to help you get over those same obstacles," he said.
"When, in fact, we should do none of the above. We should get out of the way and off your back."
The leader of the Official Opposition blasted the budget's projection of a $78.3 billion deficit for this year, calling it the largest ever put on the backs of Canadian taxpayers.
The Liberals presented their budget Tuesday as a plan to spend less and invest more in the face of U.S. tariffs. After taking Ottawa's cost savings goals into account, the budget proposes nearly $90 billion in new spending over five years, much of it focused on capital creation.
Poilievre called out Carney's approach to debt.
"This will be the most costly five years, if it is allowed to happen, in any of Canada's history. And make no mistake, this is not due to the falling revenue from the trade war. It is due to increased government spending," he said.
The credit rating agency Fitch released a new assessment Thursday in response to Budget 2025. While it stands by its AA+ rating for Canada, the agency also highlighted risks tied to the new spending plan.
"While Canada’s rating is broadly stable, persistent fiscal expansion and a rising debt burden have weakened its credit profile and could increase rating pressure over the medium term," the agency said.
"This may be exacerbated by persistent economic underperformance caused by tariff risks and structural challenges, including low productivity."
Carney was also asked about Canada's deficit track on Friday. He said Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio is stable over the planning horizon and the country's credit rating — still AAA among other agencies, such as Moody's and S&P — remains among the best of major world economies.
He acknowledged there's a risk that the economy "does not grow fast enough" and that flagging productivity levels fail to rise, which would worsen Canada's debt position.
"There's a fairly substantial restructure of the economy that needs to happen because of the change in the world. The way you do that is invest," Carney said. "We are only running a deficit for investment."
Poilievre said Carney is creating new bureaucracies to manage critical areas like homebuilding and argued that approach just puts more obstacles in the way of developers who want to build.
He said home construction should be tax-free and that the federal proposal to waive the sales tax on some new builds for first-time buyers doesn't go far enough.
Ottawa should cut the red tape holding back companies from extracting, developing and exporting Canadian natural resources, he argued. Poilievre called on Ottawa to allow firms to ship Canadian oil and liquefied natural gas from the coast of British Columbia to Asia.
Poilievre also repeated his call to kill the industrial carbon price and other taxes and regulations he said drive up costs for farmers and the food supply chain.
The Conservative leader said he supports Liberal plans to introduce a framework for stablecoins — a form of cryptocurrency typically pegged to the value of another asset for stability.
But he also said that framework must be developed in a way that lowers costs and promotes competition in the financial sector.
"It should not be used to further concentrate power in our payment systems or to create a central bank digital currency," Poilievre said.
He said Conservatives would support any party in the House of Commons attempting to implement a stablecoin system that improves the functioning of the Canadian financial sector, which he said offers "extremely slow" payment processing.
The Conservatives have lost two MPs since the budget was tabled on Tuesday. Chris d'Entremont crossed the floor to join the Liberals, while Matt Jeneroux announced his pending resignation from Parliament. The exact timing of Jeneroux's departure remains unclear.
Poilievre's speech came just before the House of Commons voted down a Bloc Québécois amendment to the budget that would have rejected the Liberal spending plan entirely.
The Conservatives voted alongside the Liberals to defeat the amendment. A final vote on the budget is set for the week of Nov. 17.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
