Economic Statement | Poilievre calls for government spending caps

Days before Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland presents an economic statement, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is urging to cap departmental spending and roll back any further tax hikes .

Vincent Larin
The Press

In a letter sent Sunday to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s right-hand man, the leader of the official opposition in the House of Commons paints a bleak picture of the economic situation of Canadians.

“Mothers put water in their children’s milk because they cannot afford 10% annual food inflation. The elderly cannot afford to heat their homes, and winter is coming,” he points out, among other things.

Pierre Poilievre blames inflation “at its highest level in 40 years” and “interest rates [qui] are increasing at the fastest rate in decades”, consequences of “Justin Trudeau’s inflationary deficits”.

“The more the government spends, the more things cost. Justin Trudeau has doubled Canada’s debt and added more debt than all other Canadian prime ministers combined.

Two requests

This is why he is making two clear demands of Chrystia Freeland, as she is due to present an economic statement this week in a difficult context where inflation remains high, interest rates are climbing, the economy is showing signs of slowing down. .

First: “stop taxes and duties”, asks Pierre Poilievre, also demanding “the cancellation of all planned increases”, including that of the carbon tax.

Then, the Conservative leader called on the Trudeau government to stop “all new spending by ministers”, unless they were accompanied by “equivalent savings”.

“For years, my warnings against uncontrolled spending that would cause inflation to explode, and then interest rates, were ignored,” said the Conservative leader in his missive.

An imminent slowdown?

Note that this week, the Bank of Canada raised its key rate for the sixth time this year, with a half-point increase in rates bringing its key rate to 3.75%.

In its latest report on monetary policy, the institution revised its economic projections. It expects economic growth to stagnate by the end of this year and in the first two quarters of 2023, with growth between 0 and 0.5%, before gaining ground in the second quarter of 2023. next year.

In this context, Chrystia Freeland will provide an update on public finances and the state of the Canadian economy on November 3, when Ottawa is expected to plan to face an impending downturn.

With Joel-Denis Bellavance, The Press