Conservatives promise $23 billion in cuts and $18 billion in new revenue, but no timeline for balanced budget

OTTAWA — Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives will run $100 billion in deficits over four years thanks in part to a bevy of tax cuts, according to their costed platform released on Tuesday morning, hours after millions of Canadians have already cast their vote. The document reprises all of Poilievre’s commitments made during the campaign, including sweeping criminal justice reforms, repealing a collection of Liberal environmental and energy laws and regulations as well as tax cuts to boost home construction. Over four years, a Polievre government would incur a roughly $31 billion annual deficit in 2025-2026 and 2026-2027, $23 billion in 2027-2028 and nearly $15 billion in 2028-2029. Overall, the plan promises to cut the federal government’s program spending by roughly $23 billion and boost revenue by $17.8 billion over four years. But the vast majority of the increased revenues come from a projected $20 billion in tariffs collected this year from Canada’s response to the trade war launched by the United States. Poilievre has frequently promised that any counter-tariff revenue would go back to Canadians in the form of direct support or tax cuts and that “not one penny will go to other government spending.” But it was not immediately clear in the platform how that $20 billion was being redistributed as proposed tax cuts in 2025-2026 appeared to amount to roughly $11 billion. The Conservatives are not committing to balance the budget within Poilievre’s first four years in office. They promise to run $100 billion in budgets during a first full term, which is roughly $40 billion less than currently projected by the Parliamentary Budget Officer. The platform includes new promises or additional details to previous commitments by the Conservatives over the election campaign. The party is proposing to “streamline” the public service by replacing two out of three public servants who quit the bureaucracy. It is also committing to reducing government spending on consultants — which grew near exponentially under the Liberals — to 2015 levels. Within 100 days of the election, a Conservative government would also identify 15 per cent of federal buildings and lands to sell in order to create more housing. The document also makes further criminal justice proposals, such as barring convicted murders from seeking parole if a victim’s body is not found. “Convicted murderers should never be given parole when they are withholding information or evidence that grieving families can use to get closure,” reads the document. More to come. National Post cnardi@postmedia.com