“We know how to grow this economy without spending money,” stated Prime Minister Mark Carney in the House of Commons this week – in answer to a question asking why the government would not introduce a budget this spring and provide the details of its near half-a-trillion-dollar spending plan. This statement is an eerily similar declaration of another prime minister a decade ago, who said when asked about the Liberals’ spending and a mounting debt load, “The budget will balance itself.”
In many instances in the last few days (and not just Carney’s boastful, ham-fisted response to an MP’s question about accountability) it has become clear this week that nothing has changed in Ottawa.
On Monday, MPs voted in the House of Commons on a motion for the government to present an economic update or budget that includes “full accountability of Canada’s finances” before MPs adjourn for their summer recess. The motion passed the House of Commons with a vote of 166 to 164, with all opposition party members voting for it and all Liberal MPs voting against it.
However, within 24 hours, the government house leader, MP Steven MacKinnon, made it clear that the Liberals were not about to entertain delivering fiscal details in the coming weeks as they would not be bound by a non-binding vote in the House of Commons. On Tuesday in Question Period, Carney was non-committal when asked whether he would respect the authority of Parliament and its request to move up the timing of a fiscal statement, “We take note of last night’s motion” and later that day MacKinnon simply was repeating his boss when he said, “I think we’ll take note of having been urged.”
When the dust settles on this House of Commons drama in the coming weeks, the Liberals expect MPs to approve its $486 billion spending plan without any fiscal details – and there will be no budget. Any questions about the eight per cent year-over year expenditure increase, details of the $26 billion earmarked for consultants, or the fact that the final $74.1 billion of promises made by the Trudeau government are not accounted for – these questions will remain unanswered for MPs’ ratification of the government’s 2025-26 spending plans.
The Carney Liberals see no accountability issues here. It is similar to the Trudeau Liberals back in 2019 who believed they need not inform parliament and Canadians of the contract details of more than 20,000 missing projects from its $187 billion dollar infrastructure program that former minister Catherine McKenna stonewalled inquiries about through two years of debate. And there are the scandalous actions of the Trudeau government through 2023 and 2024 in attempting to bury the details of the misappropriation of money in its “green slush fund” – covert efforts that ultimately seized all parliamentary business as MPs were left to argue a question of privilege on whether the Liberals needed to respect the Speaker of House ruling.
Another tell-tale sign of the character of this Carney government was the understated manner in which the prime minister made public his selection for chief of staff – the most powerful position on Parliament Hill aside from the prime minister himself. Carney posted on X, “I am pleased to announce that Marc-André Blanchard will serve as my Chief of Staff beginning in July.” What was shared with Canadians is that Blanchard was Canada’s former representative to the United Nations (U.N.) and that he previously held an executive role at the CDPQ Global, a Canadian pension fund investment firm.
The details of Blanchard’s past that were not share was his intimate dealings in the backrooms of the Liberal Party supporting former prime minister Justin Trudeau. He was president of the Liberal Party in Quebec before coming to Ottawa with Trudeau in 2015 to help with the Liberals’ transition of power. Blanchard personally vetted Trudeau’s first cabinet, and after his Trudeau-appointed stint at the U.N. he came back to Ottawa in 2019 to become an economic advisor to the prime minister (similar to the position Carney held with Trudeau). The ties do not stop there: Blanchard and Carney share many core beliefs relating to net zero goals as they both are noted leaders at the U.N. and the World Economic Forum of sustainable development initiatives to transition away from fossil fuels. (Investigative journalist Andy Lee found this 2021 international forum exchange where Blanchard is discussing with Diana Fox Carney (PM’s wife) how he is managing $400 billion of CDPQ assets with a strict adherence to net zero – “exiting from oil production” and “excluding investment in new oil pipelines.”) Evidently, Blanchard did not just surface from the U.N. and the financial sector; he has had close dealings with both Carney and a long-standing relationship with Trudeau.
The other major announcement about the prime minister’s office (PMO) staff was Carney’s appointment of David Lametti as his principal secretary – number two in charge behind the chief of staff. Lametti is another direct link to the Trudeau government as he was the justice minister who was brought in to deal up a “get-out-of-jail-free” card for SNC-Lavalin after Trudeau dismissed Jody Wilson-Raybould for not providing an escape route for the embroiled Quebec firm. Lametti’s tenure as Canada’s justice minister is also noted as having established the Liberals’ soft on crime policies, weakening the bail system, and being the minister responsible for evoking the Emergencies Act – which is now ruled “unconstitutional.”
So, on one side of Carney sits Blanchard and on the other sits Lametti and they will be guiding the direction and strategies of the government. From skirting any commitments while promising a new “fast-track” approval process for infrastructure projects at the premiers’ meeting, to including amendments that would violate personal freedoms in its first major piece of legislation, Canadians can expect that the Carney Liberals will continue on with the same self-serving political practices that were recognized as hallmark of the Trudeau Liberals.
Also at the table of Carney’s PMO staff sits his good friend Mark Wiseman – who factors large in another news story that broke this week. Recall that Wiseman is the former Blackrock manager who is known in Ottawa circles as a co-founder of the Century Initiative. That Liberal policy plan advocates for mass immigration and for the country’s population to top 100 million people by the end of the century. In Trudeau’s first mandate, the Liberals adopted Wiseman’s plan and would go on to sign the U.N. Global Compact for Migration, that would encourage increased migration from third world countries into Canada. (Interesting aside was that Blanchard was Canada’s representative at the U.N. as this agreement was being ratified by its signatories).
News headlines this week from Statistics Canada revealed that the government had imported 817,000 immigrants in the first four months of 2025. This number includes temporary workers, international students, and refugee claimants along with permanent resident applicants. Further data shared showed that Canada now has an unprecedented number of foreign migrants in the country, and, in 2025, there is an unprecedented number of migrants scheduled to leave the country as a result of their temporary permits becoming due. The number of individuals involved is controversial as the newly minted immigration minister Lena Metlege Diab either does not know or will not make public the extent of the challenge. As it is the government has no plan of removing temporary migrants who are scheduled to return home but will not leave Canadian soil.
The Liberals’ immigration mismanagement impacts a great many challenges Canadians are coping with, including the tremendous strain on the health care system and on social services. The influx of three- four million immigrants in the post-pandemic period has exacerbated the country’s housing crisis. On this point, a TD Report this week concludes that Carney’s plan to build 500,000 new homes annually is wholly unrealistic – in fact, this year and next, housing starts are projected to decrease well below half of Carney’s annual figure. Another report just released by the Bank of Canada speaks to the rising unemployment in Canada – with migrants displacing Canadian youth in the workforce. There is also the unspoken issue of the cost of supporting the migration population, both the immediate costs when they deplane in Toronto or Montreal and are provided hotel accommodations – and the longer-term costs of providing social assistance (indefinitely) for a majority of those staying in Canada. Still 2025 is scheduled to be the largest intake of migrants in Canadian history – something that no doubt pleases Wiseman and Blanchard, and presumably Carney.
The language in the House of Commons was sharp and it became less civil through the week. The frustration of opposition MPs in getting answers from the Liberals was palpable and Conservative MP Andrew Scheer made this observation describing the new government, “The Prime Minister says he is the man with the plan. Slogans are not as efficient as plans, yet there is no plan” and he later quipped, “If photo ops and phony rhetoric actually got things done in this country then Justin Trudeau would still be Prime Minister.”
From displaying disrespect for Parliament with its first vote, to the cast of advisors in the PMO, to continuing to flood the country with migrants, the Carney government looks a lot like the Trudeau government. It is the same ol’ Liberals.
Chris George is an advocate, government relations advisor, and writer/copy editor. As president of a public relations firm established in 1994, Chris provides discreet counsel, tactical advice and management skills to CEOs/Presidents, Boards of Directors and senior executive teams in executing public and government relations campaigns and managing issues. Prior to this PR/GR career, Chris spent seven years on Parliament Hill on staffs of Cabinet Ministers and MPs. He has served in senior campaign positions for electoral and advocacy campaigns at every level of government. Today, Chris resides in Almonte, Ontario where he and his wife manage www.cgacommunications.com. Contact Chris at chrisg.george@gmail.com.
