Liberal leadership hopeful Mark Carney is fond of claiming he’s an “outsider.”
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If Carney wants to be seen as an outsider, he must do more than say he is one. Carney needs to put his money where his mouth is and present a clear plan to fix this government’s broken budget.
Carney seems to have recognized that Canadians are sick and tired of runaway deficits and tax hikes. However, he has only promised to be different in very general terms.
“The prime minister and his team let their attention wander from the economy too often,” said Carney at the official launch of his leadership bid in Edmonton. “I won’t lose focus.
“I am going to be completely focused on getting our economy back on track.”
Carney may be trying to claim he’s not a politician, but that’s as political as an answer possibly could be.
No clarity. No substance. Just fluff.
Canadians don’t want to hear that Carney would do a better job than Trudeau by focusing more. They want to hear exactly how Carney would change the federal government’s policies.
If Carney wants to differentiate himself from Trudeau’s managing of Canada’s finances, he needs to promise three things: A balanced budget, spending cuts paired with any new spending and leadership from the top.
First, Canadians want a balanced budget. Trudeau promised we’d have one in his fourth year in office. But it’s year 10 and the deficit is a whopping $48.3 billion.
The government currently has no path to balance. Taxpayers are on the hook for more than $1 billion a week in debt interest payments. And the feds now spend more on debt interest than health care.
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That’s a recipe for a fiscal crisis. Carney needs to promise to balance the budget. Not in a decade. Not in five years. Now.
And Carney has to get that done through cutting spending, not raising taxes.
The Trudeau government has raised taxes every year it has been in office. Over the past year alone, the feds have increased capital gains taxes, payroll taxes, alcohol taxes and carbon taxes. Canadians can’t afford higher taxes.
The budget must be balanced, but that balanced budget must come from cutting wasteful spending.
The Trudeau government has increased spending by more than $250 billion since coming into office. That’s more than $100 billion more than the rate of inflation plus population growth. So, there should be plenty of room to find savings.
Second, Carney needs to offer a plan to keep any new spending under control. For too long, governments have simply added grand new spending plans without any concern for how to pay for them.
Carney should commit to pairing any new spending with specific spending cuts. Every single promise he makes should be fully paid for. And the spending cuts should be clearly identified. Canadians don’t just want vague generalities. They want specifics.
Third, Canadians want leadership from the top. Taxpayers have been going through hard times. It’s demoralizing for Canadians to see credit card bills pile up while the prime minister eats braised lamb shanks with baked cheesecake, jets all over the world, stays in $6,000 hotel rooms and sticks taxpayers with the bill.
Canadians want a leader who won’t rack up huge expense bills.
Trudeau has acted like a king. Carney should pledge to be different.
None of this will be easy. Should Carney become prime minister, he would face a massive deficit and a bureaucracy anxious to spend billions on pet projects.
But Canadians want a leader who will cut the fat in government and lead by example. If Carney isn’t prepared to do that, he’d better stop calling himself an outsider.
Jay Goldberg is the Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation