By: Mason Mattu, Humour Editor
The finance minister François-Philippe Champagne says even his mother understands the basic household principle of “spend less, save more.” What Champagne was referring to is austerity — reducing government spending in an effort to promote economic growth. Now, Prime Minister Mark Carney is looking to extend this principle. Make no mistake, austerity measures aren’t analogous to a family cutting down on frivolous expenditure. Government spending cuts wear the mask of fiscal responsibility while families are asked to sacrifice a little more for the greater good. All the while, corporations and billionaires reap the benefits.
Unfortunately, working-class Canadians are all too familiar with the word “austerity”, even if they’re not aware of it. Former prime ministers Stephen Harper and Paul Martin both delivered sweeping austerity budgets during their respective mandates. In Martin’s infamous 1995 budget, over $7 billion in social services were cut.
Recently, Carney used the term in French — austerité — to describe the fall economic budget. The Liberals’ economic budget, which will be tabled this fall, will include a 15% reduction in spending heading into the 2028–2029 fiscal year. That isn’t a minor trim — it’s a huge cut that will significantly impact the lives of Canadians. Even the ministers are frantically scrambling to find things to cut.
Among the potential victims of these budget cuts are Indigenous Services Canada, universities that receive grants from the federal government, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and members of Canada’s public service, who help deliver essential social programs and services to Canadians. Think about that for a second. With job cuts to our public service, people will undoubtedly suffer from even higher wait times for essential services and public programs, causing significant damage.
Austerity measures don’t just mean cuts to existing services and essential spending, but they also block the creation of future necessary services. For example, the victories that the New Democratic Party secured in the last parliament, including free pharmacare and dental care for certain populations, won’t be expanded to a universal level by Carney’s government.
While Carney is telling us — working-class Canadians — that we have to live in austerity, the ultra-rich and corporations of this country are thriving. In 2024, Canada’s wealthiest had over $682 billion sitting in offshore tax havens (spoiler alert — that’s missed revenue). We’ve handed out $26 million to Costco and Loblaws. The Trans Mountain Pipeline has received $18 billion worth of taxpayer dollars, while we move away from a Green Transition that produces climate-change-proofed jobs for workers. All the while, striking workers are being legislated back to work by the government, exposing that the government is really in bed with greedy capitalists.
Instead of austerity for us, it needs to be austerity for them — Canada’s wealthiest. Rather than decreasing government spending on essentials, the government could be increasing revenue through taxes on the rich. According to estimates by BC Policy Solutions, a wealth tax for the top 1% of Canadians could produce $500 billion in tax revenue over the course of 10 years. The top 1% own 29% of the wealth in our country, way beyond their population share. 78 billionaires in Canada hold $520 billion in wealth. By not implementing a wealth tax, we’re losing so much revenue that could fund social programs and safety nets for years to come. The government is playing a dangerous game by not implementing this revenue-increasing strategy. One that prioritizes the fiscal health of corporations above the health of our working class.
Big Daddy Carney isn’t here to save us. If he were, he wouldn’t be threatening austerity measures against the working class.
