OTTAWA — After spending much of his day trying to shore up support inside Parliament for his government’s first budget, Prime Minister Mark Carney headed down the road on Wednesday evening to work on adding public support.
Speaking at the University of Ottawa, Carney laid down a new target that Canada will try to double exports to markets outside the United States within the next decade, generating an extra $300-billion in trade.
Early steps toward that goal have already been taken, he said, with a new trade agreement with Indonesia, an artificial intelligence pact with the United Arab Emirates, agreements with the European Union on defence and trade, and a critical minerals partnership with Germany. Ottawa is also working to improve its troubled relationships with India and China, he told the crowd of about 180.
To reach that export goal and to build a stronger country, however, Carney said Canadians will need to make sacrifices in the wake of the ongoing trade dispute with the U.S. The world has become more dangerous and trade with the U.S. more difficult, he said, but Canada will take bold action to ensure a brighter future.
“Our economic strategy needs to change dramatically,” Carney told the crowd of mostly students. “Our relationship with the United States will never be the same as it was.”
Carney, who did not take questions from reporters or the students after his address, repeated his government’s plans to build more homes, raise defence spending, cut taxes, improve relationships around the world, and buy more domestic goods.
Saying that the federal government “has the fiscal capacity to act decisively,” Carney said again that the Liberals’ upcoming budget will include cuts to waste, but hinted strongly that it will also feature plenty of spending designed to put Canada in a better position for the long term.
“It’s our country. It’s your future. And we are going to give it back to you.”
Earlier in the day, the prime minister was busy meeting with opposition leaders to discuss the upcoming budget as Liberal MPs urged opposition parties to support the government’s agenda.
Carney met with Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet in the morning, and met with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in the afternoon, according to spokespeople from each party.
Audrey Champoux, from the Prime Minister’s Office, also said a meeting with interim NDP Leader Don Davies took place on Oct. 1 and a meeting with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May took place on Oct. 2.
“Today, the prime minister and I will meet to discuss the 10th Liberal budget deficit,” said Poilievre during Wednesday’s question period.
“Our priority, as Conservatives, is an affordable budget for an affordable cost of living for the Canadian people.”
Bloc spokeswoman Joanie Riopel said Blanchet reiterated the party’s stance on the upcoming budget during the meeting. The Bloc has previously laid out six “non-negotiable” demands for Quebec, which include increases to health transfers and Old Age Security.
The meetings were happening before Carney is set to make an address on his government’s plan to “build a stronger economy” in the evening. He is also set to travel to Malaysia and South Korea to attend two international summits before coming back on Nov. 1.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne is expected to table the budget on Nov. 4. The minority Liberals need three votes from the opposition parties in order for the budget to pass.
On Wednesday, members of the Liberal government were
again making the case that the onus is on opposition parties
to explain why they would not support the upcoming budget and therefore plunge the country into a snap election for the second time this year.
Budget votes are confidence votes, so if all opposition parties decide not to support it, that means that the government has to resign or seek the dissolution of Parliament.
“If there has to be an election, we will confidently take our plan to the people, but we don’t think an election is necessary,” said Government House Leader Steve MacKinnon.
MacKinnon, whose job is to convince the opposition parties to support the government’s agenda, said he has “no assurances” at this point that the budget is going to pass.
“The opposition parties are, in my view, being very, very cavalier,” he said.
Liberal caucus chair James Maloney said he is “confident” the budget will be adopted.
“I hope it passes. I’m not worried at this stage,” he said.
Champagne said he hopes opposition parties are tuned into “the mood of the nation,” which he said is “about building, about protecting Canadians, about empowering Canadians.”
“The last thing I think Canadians want to see is political parties positioning themselves. What they want is to see people supporting the government to make sure… we can deliver for them,” he said.
Speaking to reporters, Blanchet said it is not his responsibility to make sure the government survives a confidence vote and said it is up to the Liberals to negotiate in good faith.
“It’s their job to find common ground with one opposition party, whichever it may be, to get through this budget psychodrama,” he said.
Blanchet added that Carney’s tone, during their meeting, earlier in the day, was “more reasonable” than the views expressed by his ministers. He described their meeting as “cordial” and said they had “frank” discussions, without going into more detail.
However, the Bloc leader made it clear that his party would not be supporting the Liberals’ budget as things stand. “If they want that to change, they have our demands,” he said.
Poilievre said if the government brings down the deficit and gets rid of “hidden taxes on food” — which he said are caused by the industrial carbon tax, the federal fuel standard, food packaging regulations and inflation — his caucus would take a “look” at the budget.
“That’s why I’m meeting in a spirit of collaboration in the prime minister,” he said in a media scrum. “I hope he will reverse course and do the right thing, so Canadians can afford their lives.”
MacKinnon said there have been “numerous discussions” with the opposition about the budget and that the government is considering their suggestions to the fiscal document.
He joked that a few Conservative MPs
who may be disgruntled with Poilievre’s recent comments on the RCMP
, might “find a time to go to the bathroom” to skip the vote on the budget.
After his meeting, Poilievre said Carney and him had a “good conversation” but said the prime minister did not make “any commitments.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.”
National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com
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