Josef Spence – Contributor

On Nov. 4, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, presented the federal budget in the House of Commons. It is entitled “Budget 2025: Canada Strong,” reflecting the Liberal government’s narrative of the need to invest in the building of a strong Canada. However, the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Mark Carney, declared that this will require Canadians to make “sacrifices”; critics argue that many Canadians are not currently in a position to do so. 

Image courtesy of Gabrielle Lalonde

This budget has been modeled by its proponents as “generational,” highlighting its particular investment in infrastructure and impacts for youth and students. The budget promised $214 billion in spending over five years on major, nation-interest infrastructure projects. This includes various natural resource exploitation projects and the construction of high-speed rail from Quebec City to Toronto. The start of the construction of the latter project was advanced from eight years to four. It will greatly increase the efficiency of travel in the Quebec-Windsor corridor, a path many Bishop’s students take when they go home, when completed.

The budget also commits $51 billion in spending over the next 10 years for improving and maintaining local infrastructure, including roads, bridges and water/waste management facilities. $81.8 billion has been earmarked for spending on defence matters over the next five years, helping Canada to meet its NATO commitments for the first time in 35 years.

The budget provided for the permanent establishment of a national school food program to provide food in primary and secondary schools across the country. Post-secondary students should see an increase in summer employment opportunities as nearly 24,000 new jobs are expected to be created or subsidized through increases in funding to Canada Summer Jobs. Similarly, the budget introduced funding for a student work placement program that will fund work-integrated study programs. As it stands, this could impact the education program at Bishop’s University, but little else. 

However, this increase in work opportunities for students is contrasted by new restrictions on students’ eligibility to receive the Canada Student Grant and plans to decrease funding to federal grants for students from low- to medium-income households over the next five years. The budget also establishes a policy to further reduce the number of international students approved to study in Canada from 305,900 in 2025 to 150,000 in 2028. The Principal of Bishop’s has noted that this decrease in international students has a significant adverse impact on the financial and cultural position of the University.

Critics across the political spectrum emphasized the insufficiency of the strategies in the budget to address the livelihood and cost of living concerns of Canadians, some highlighting the elimination of taxes for the purchasing of luxury vehicles, even while the taxes on food remain the same. Critics have flagged unusual accounting practices used in the budget, such as the counting of the Canadian Pension Plan as an asset that the government owns instead of a liability that the government needs to ensure gets paid, as a means for the government to understate its deficit. The proposed deficit for 2025-26 is $78 billion, though some Members of Parliament estimate the deficit could be over $100 billion if the accounting practices conformed to the international standard. This puts the total deficit of the federal government well over $1 trillion, about $30,000 of debt for each Canadian.

Despite the criticism, the budget passed in the House of Commons on Nov. 17 with 170 votes in favour and 168 votes in opposition.