WHITBY – The Liberal party released a late-stage election platform Saturday that pledged billions in new spending and charts a major change in priorities from the party’s direction in 2021 under former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney released his platform after the only two leaders’ debates of the campaign concluded, and a day after advanced voting began.
It also lands in the middle of a stop-and-go trade war with the United States, Canada’s largest trading partner, and shows the path Carney is trying to chart toward reducing Canada’s reliance on the U.S. and increasing trade and economic activity at home.
“It’s time to build again, big time,” Carney said, surrounded by dozens of supporters at Durham College in Whitby, Ont.
He was also flanked by Quebec Liberal candidate and current Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Anita Anand, the incumbent Liberal in Oakville, Ont., and the current industry minister.
The plan would add $35.2 billion in new spending over the next year and a total of $129 billion over the next four years.
The 65-page document shows a reversal in the proportion of operating and capital spending within the government as Carney eyes attracting and stimulating private-sector investment amid the global economic crisis prompted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Carney said there is no room for “libertarians” during an economic crisis because that’s when the private sector retreats and governments must step up.
“Governments must lead and catalyze private sector investments,” he said. “The core of this platform is investing, and investing here at home is going to build out.”
Carney’s plan features major government programs, including in defence and housing, as well as major infrastructure investments in ports and highways, and a promise to build out the east-west power grid.
Currently provinces with power to sell ship most of it south to the United States, rather than to other provinces.
The Liberal leader sought to contrast his vision against Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s by comparing his rival to Trump and his playbook, saying Poilievre would slash the public service and scrap the single-use plastics ban to bring back plastic straws.
“That’ll show Trump, that’ll show the Americans — we’ve got our straws,” Carney said in a mocking tone.
The Liberal plan would push the deficit up this year from $46.8 billion to $62 billion and factors in $20 billion in revenue from Canada’s counter-tariff response.
Carney also said his plan would introduce some fiscal belt tightening on operations for a federal government that has been spending too much and investing too little.
But while he pledged to balance the operating budget by 2028, the capital budget would still run a $48 billion deficit that year.
Poilievre spent most of an almost 25-minute long speech at a news conference in Richmond, B.C. Saturday heavily criticizing the Liberal plan.
“It’s a shocking plan,” Poilievre said, accusing the Liberals of ballooning the deficit that will lead to higher costs for Canadians.
Most of the Liberal party’s policy planks have already been announced at this point, but the plan includes new measures such as creating an in vitro fertilization program that offers Canadians up to $20,000 for an IVF treatment cycle. This would cost about $103 million a year.
Carney has pledged what he calls a “middle class” tax cut for the lowest income bracket, which will dent federal coffers by $4 billion in the first year, adding up to about $22 billion over four years.
The platform also includes a pledge to introduce legislation to remove the consumer carbon tax while also planning to re-tool the industrial carbon price. Carney moved to set the carbon price to zero on April 1, but the law allowing that carbon price to go back up is still on the books and the Conservatives have criticized Carney for not changing it, insisting he intends to restore consumer pricing as soon as he is elected.
Parliament did not sit after Carney was sworn in as Prime Minister, just two weeks before the election was called.
During the Liberal leadership race, Carney pledged a carbon border adjustment — effectively a tariff on imports from major polluters. The platform formalizes this promise, saying it would help protect Canada’s most trade-exposed sectors.
The plan adds $30.9 billion to defence spending over the next four years, largely backloaded into the last two, as Canada aims to meet its NATO target on a faster timeline than the Trudeau government planned.
Canada has fallen under sustained pressure from the U.S. and other NATO allies for lagging behind the pack in defence spending, and Carney has pledged to reach the NATO target of spending the equivalent of 2 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030.
Poilievre has criticized the Liberals for not meeting the target, though he has not said when a Conservative government would hit two per cent. The Liberals repeatedly point out that defence spending fell below one per cent of GDP in the final year of the Conservative government in 2015.
It stands at about 1.4 per cent now.
In the afternoon on Saturday, Carney stopped in Newcastle, Ont., for a photo op decorating Easter eggs with children at a family home. Outside the house he was met by a large group of supporters, who asked for selfies with him and autographs on their copies of his book and broke into a spontaneous singing of “O Canada.”
“Save Canada sir… You’re the right man for the job,” one supporter was overheard telling Carney.
He was also met by a small number of protesters, including one who shouted curse words at Carney from across the street.
At a rally later Saturday in Peterborough, Ont., Gina King said her whole family supports the Liberal leader.
“I believe what he’s doing and he’s investing in our country,” King said, adding that this was her first rally. “I think he has the financial knowledge to carry us through what’s going on right now.”
King, who is ex-military and has benefited from government services for veterans, said Carney’s newly-announced supports for veterans are “excellent.” She said she’s also excited about the announced grants for tradespeople.
The Liberal platform promises to improve various benefits for veterans, and undertake a study to ensure female veterans are getting the support they need.
Carney was up late Friday before the release of his platform, going over documents in a hotel lounge in Ajax, Ont., alongside Champagne and campaign staff.
The finance minister had two binders in front of him and a bottle of water, while Carney drank tea. Carney jumped back and forth from a table in the corner of the lounge where Champagne sat to a larger table where many of his Liberal team were gathered, some drinking beer.
— Written by Kyle Duggan in Ottawa and Catherine Morrison in Whitby, Ont.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2025.
