Ottawa, ON – This week, Mark Carney tried to turn around perceptions that his Major Projects Office was nothing other than More Photo-Ops. Unfortunately, his latest announcement, taking credit for already approved projects, once again fell flat.
Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced that one of the projects, the Sisson mine in New Brunswick, would begin construction next spring. The only problem? His announcement was eight years ago when the Liberals approved the project. “The steps fell into place, I would say, rather methodically,” he noted in 2017.
Conservatives have continued to point out that many of the projects on the list have already been approved, and the Office is yet another bureaucracy for resource companies to jump through in order to get anything approved. But after the latest list, many are joining in to highlight the failure.
Lori Turnbull, Professor at Dalhousie, said, “Some of these projects, including the five that had been announced previously, these were things that were already in motion, there was already buy-in, there were already some regulatory moves to make sure they were going to happen.”
She went on to note that Canadians will start “wondering why the Prime Minister is standing up and saying this is a new development and we should be really happy about it,” and that “if the government keeps on going and announcing new projects, what is the Major Project Office doing?”
Heather Exner-Pirot, an expert on energy policy, noted “the Major Projects Office seems to be more about financing projects than smoothing the regulatory path” and that “in practice it’s about government kind of picking and choosing which projects it thinks are important.” That is the exact opposite of what Canada needs to get projects built after decades of Liberals piling on more regulations that kill projects.
Candace Laing, president and chief executive of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, added, “On Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a handful more of the winners, but our eyes immediately turned to those who once again missed out this round. ‘If you’re lucky, the government will pick you’ cannot be the long-term message we send to project proponents and investors.”
She went on to note that the Major Projects Office creates “the risk of a two-tier system that leaves smaller, regional or non-‘national interest’ projects to languish is real. If only a fraction of our country’s projects ever proceed, then investors will know it’s a feature, not a bug.”
John Ivison observed that the latest announcement “rather prompts the question: What use is the Major Projects Office when the government keeps selecting proposals that have already been approved?”
Even Mark Carney made the stunning admission today that he’s been taking credit for other people’s hard work, saying, “I had the privilege before I came here to do what every politician dreams, to take credit for something that other people had done.”
Meanwhile, economist Jack Mintz criticized the Liberals for picking winners and losers in the budget, writing, “Targeted tax incentives won’t build Canada. What will is improving productivity by getting the government out of the market’s way.”
Today, adding to the pile of poor reactions to Carney’s costly credit card budget was a new report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) calling out the Liberal’s deceptive accounting and fiscal mismanagement. The report breaks down the budget, noting the Liberals’ deficit over the next five years will be “more than double that projected in the 2024 Fall Economic Statement.”
It also pointed out that “the Government’s definition of capital investments is overly expansive” and “Based on PBO’s definition, capital investments would total $217.3 billion over 2024-25 to 2029-30—approximately 30 per cent ($94 billion) lower compared to Budget 2025.”
The PBO also explained, “With Budget 2025 the Government abandoned the previous fiscal anchor to reduce the federal debt-to-GDP ratio over the medium term,” despite the Fall Economic Statement noting a declining debt-to-GDP ratio is “key not only for fiscal sustainability, but also to preserve Canada’s AAA credit rating.”
And finally, Liberal Veterans’ Affairs Minister Jill McKnight has yet to come clean on how her department will pay for cuts totalling $4.23 billion, the second largest in the budget. She initially flip-flopped on whether these cuts will affect Veterans, saying the amount cut ‘‘will depend on each individual circumstance.”
While the Liberals have tried to claim the cuts are coming entirely from spending less on cannabis, VAC spent just $245 million a year on medical marijuana last year. Their numbers don’t work and fail to explain where their $4.23 billion in cuts to VAC are coming from.
Veterans who fought for Canada deserve better than the Minister’s spin on cuts to their benefits. It’s time for Minister McKnight to come clean with what the Liberals are cutting.
It’s clear that after 10 Liberal budgets, Canadians cannot afford the cost of Carney. Conservatives will continue to fight for an affordable Canada with stronger take-home pay that buys affordable food and homes in safe neighbourhoods.