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As voters cast ballots in advance polls through the Easter long weekend, the New Democrats also released their platform, which included a whopping $227 billion in new spending over four years, offset by new taxes on corporations and the “super rich.” That made Conservatives the only major party not to have released their costed policy platform.Ìý

Meanwhile, in Whitby, Carney finally detailed how his proposed changes to the federal books would splice “capital” spending from “operational” expenses, saying he would find $28 billion in unspecified “savings” to help balance the government operations budget.Ìý

Carney argued his plan would bring government spending “under control” after successive governments failed to, and shift the budgetary emphasis on expenditures that create economic growth at a time of “chaos” over the American trade war with Canada.Ìý

“Canadians don’t just want to resist the U.S. — Canadians are determined to win,” Carney said.Ìý

He pointed to the Bank of Canada’s worst-case scenario that estimated a long-lasting global trade war could cause $125 billion in damage to the Canadian economy. “That is an enormous number,” said Carney, a former governor of the central bank.

“But it’s small compared to what we can give ourselves back …ÌýWhat we can create is $900 billion by ourselves. That is $20,000 on net for every single CanadianÌý— in five years,” he said.

The platform revealed new details of what the Liberals would do if they win theÌýApril 28 election, including pledges to provide $20,000 for in vitro fertilization treatments.ÌýCarney proposed a “Buy Canadian” push that would limit foreign bidders on government contracts, prioritize Canadian suppliers for defence contracts, call for Canadian steel, aluminum and lumber in federally funded infrastructure projects, use Canadian-made cars in government fleets, and measures to help Canadian shoppers identify domestically produced goods.Ìý

Almost immediately, Carney’s political rivals attacked the platform, with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre decrying the new spending, while the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh claimed the “savings” target shows the Liberals would cut government services.Ìý

Overall, the LiberalÌý about $129.23 billion in new spending over four years, with $35.2 billion in the current fiscal year. It also projects almost $52 billion in new revenue and “savings” over the four-year plan, almost half of whichÌý— $20 billionÌý— is expected in the current fiscal year from the payment of Canadian countertariffs on American imports.

The countertariff revenue expectation is lower than the $24 billion previously estimated when the first three phases of Canadian duties on $94.8 billion worth of American products was unveiled. A campaign official said that’s because Canadian consumers are likely to change their buying and importing habits as a result of higher prices on American goods.

The biggest chunk of new spending is for lost revenue from the Liberals’ promise to lower income taxes by one percentage point for the lowest income tax bracket. The platform projects that will cost almost $22 billion by 2028-29. Another $12.6 billion in revenue will be lost from cancelling the Justin Trudeau government’s increase to capital gains taxes.Ìý

The platform commits around $18 billion in new spending on defence, including through increased pay for the Canadian Armed Forces and following through on previous plans to buy new heavy icebreakers, submarines, drones and “Canadian-made” early warning aircraft. The Liberals now pledge to speed up existing spending plans in a push to hit Canada’s long-standing commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to spend the equivalent at least 2 per cent of economic output on defence by 2030, instead of the current goal of 2032.

When it was pointed out other NATO leaders plan to increase the alliance’s target beyond 2 per cent, Carney acknowledged “it is possible … that we will need to do more.”

The Liberals would also allocate $11.8 billion over four years to support builders of prefabricated homes through a new Build Canada Homes fund, and spend $6 billion by 2028-29 to cover new housing infrastructureÌýlike water, power lines, and wastewater systems to municipalities that cut housing development charges.Ìý

The platform also details $6.8 billion in spending for “nation-building” projects like high-speed rail, a previously announced $5 billion fund for “trade diversification corridors” to move Canadian products like oil and liquified natural gas or agricultural products to other countries, and $4 billion to “construct and renovate” health care infrastructure.

Carney told reporters his government would balance the government operating budget in three years, while using capital spending to spur the economy. However, the plan shows a Carney government would continue running budget deficits (capital plus operating) of $62.34 billion in the current fiscal year 2025-26 (with the operating budget deficit pegged at more than $9 billion). The combined deficit would decline to $47.8 billion in 2028-29. When it comes to operational spending only, the document projects a surplus of about $222 million that year.

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At a campaign stop in Richmond, B.C., Poilievre said Carney’s spending plan would lead to higher taxes and fuel inflation, and a weaker dollar. “You cannot afford a fourth Liberal term.”

The Liberal platform abandoned one of the Justin Trudeau government’s key spending targets, to restrain deficits to 1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), starting in the 2026-27 fiscal year. Instead, the platform projects deficits worth 1.83 per cent of GDP that year, declining to 1.35 per cent in 2028-29.Ìý

To save money, a Carney government would capÌý— not cutÌý— the size of the public service, and ensure program expenses grow less than 2 per cent each year, compared with almost 9 per cent annually since 2015. The Liberal leader said expenses would be lowered through attrition, reductions in the number of private consultants, and “consolidating” overlapping programs along with changes like the use of artificial intelligence to make the government more efficient.Ìý

The platform says these changes will lead to $28 billion in “savings” by 2028-29.Ìý