This is a red flag:
“We’re at a point where, based upon our numbers, things cannot continue as they are, and I think everybody knows that,” Parliamentary Budget Officer Jason Jacques said, adding his report contextualizes the anxiety some Canadians are feeling about the economy right now.
The problem is, the deficit we are heading for is because we are giving handouts to the rich instead of taxing them like we were promised.
If Mark Carney had stuck to his promises and taxed the wealthy, Canada could look very different today. He could have funded middle class tax cuts and social programs without increasing the deficit. He could have created more and better jobs by investing in green infrastructure and public housing. He could have reduced inequality by shifting the tax burden upward and closing loopholes. He could have avoided austerity for the working class by cutting wasteful spending, like bloated military budgets and oil industry handouts, and reinvesting in healthcare, education, and affordable housing.
That is the Canada Carney promised. But 120 days into his term, he has done the exact opposite.
Carney did not just fail to tax the wealthy. He gave them a gift. His first major move was cancelling the capital gains tax increase, a policy that would have made the richest Canadians pay more on their stock profits and luxury assets. Instead, he let them keep their millions while claiming it was about helping small businesses. Then, to fund his middle class tax cuts, he borrowed money, money the wealthy will now collect interest on through government bonds. You get a crumb. They get the whole cake.
Carney promised to invest in Canadians, but his government is pouring billions into military spending to meet NATO’s 2 percent GDP target, a move that mostly benefits defense contractors and shareholders, not working families.
Meanwhile, he cancelled the EV mandate, a direct handout to the fossil fuel industry that ensures Big Oil keeps raking in profits while the rest of us choke on smog and high gas prices.
Carney talks about fiscal responsibility and a narrow path to sustainability, but his version of responsibility means cuts to the services you rely on, healthcare, education, housing, while investment means handouts to corporations, defense contractors, and the fossil fuel industry. He is not asking the wealthy to sacrifice. He is asking you to tighten your belt while they loosen theirs.
So why is Carney governing like this? The answer is simple. He is not working for you. He is working for them.
Carney and his team claim that cutting taxes for the rich and corporations will stimulate the economy and create jobs. But we have seen this movie before. Trickle down economics does not work.
The wealthy do not invest their tax cuts in jobs. They hoard the money, buy back stocks, or park it in offshore accounts. Meanwhile, the rest of us get fewer services, higher costs, and a lecture about shared sacrifice.
Carney’s policies, military spending, fossil fuel subsidies, capital gains breaks, are not accidents. They are deliberate choices that benefit the powerful, defense contractors, oil executives, and the financial elite. These are the people who fund campaigns, lobby governments, and shape the rules.
Carney is not breaking his promises to you. He is keeping his promises to them.
The government claims we cannot afford to tax the wealthy or cut military spending. They say we need to stay competitive, attract investment, and avoid scaring off the rich. But let us be clear. This is fearmongering. Countries with higher taxes on the wealthy, like Norway and Denmark, have stronger economies, better services, and less inequality than we do.
The real fear is not that the rich will leave. It is that they will stop donating to political campaigns if they do not get their way.
The way this is framed in the press release ("the anxiety some Canadians are feeling about the economy right now") is designed to make consumers feel responsible for the coming austerity, even though it is not their fault.
The word for that is gaslighting.
It shifts the blame to regular Canadians for a crisis created by policies that favor the wealthy, and it prepares the public to accept cuts to the services they rely on while the rich continue to benefit. This is not an accident. It is a strategy to protect the powerful at the expense of everyone else.
Addendum:
I just did a quick calculation. Carney is working hard for Canadians. Well, some of them. The top 1.5 per cent wealthiest Canadians - about 400000 people - will get about $60000.00 per year direct in tax savings, stock dividends, and interest income from Carney's policies today.
The other 98.5 per cent will get a $840.00 tax break.
Austerity needs to start with the top 1.5 per cent.
The alternative might resemble the French revolution.
Addendum:
If Carney didn't give those handouts to the wealthy, the deficit would drop from $68.5B to $32.5B and the Debt-to-GDP ratio falls to ~41–41.5% which is closer to the pre-pandemic level in the article.
You know what else we could do with $36B?
Universal pharmacare (~$15 billion/year).
Affordable housing (~$10 billion/year).
Green energy transition (~$10 billion/year)
Addendum:
About six weeks after this, Ottawa says it’s looking to hire a permanent parliamentary budget officer, someone with “tact and discretion”.