Juno News - Most Canadians don't trust Carney to fix the deficit

00:00:00.000 Most Canadians don't believe that Liberal leader Mark Carney would balance the budget if he's

00:00:09.240 elected Prime Minister. The recent landmark ruling on the legal definition of a woman in the UK

00:00:14.700 has brought renewed attention to Canada's own laws on the matter. Liberal leader Mark Carney

00:00:20.020 promoted a nuclear company owned by Brookfield Asset Management while discussing potential

00:00:25.260 energy investments. Hello Canada, it's Tuesday April 22nd and this is the True North Daily Brief.

00:00:31.660 I'm Isaac Lamoureux. And I'm Jeff Knight. We've got you covered with all the news you need to know.

00:00:37.960 Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.

00:00:47.340 While Liberal leader Mark Carney touts himself as a competent economic manager, a majority of

00:00:52.900 Canadians are doubtful that a Liberal government under his leadership would restore order to the

00:00:57.980 federal government's finances. In a poll conducted by Leger, 65% of decided Canadians indicated that

00:01:05.040 they are sceptical that a Carney government would balance the federal government's operational budget.

00:01:10.180 Only 35% say they are confident in his ability to achieve this goal.

00:01:14.920 During Carney's campaign for the Liberal leadership, the former central banker promised that he would

00:01:20.000 split the federal government's budget in two, divided into the operating and capital budget.

00:01:25.700 Carney promised to balance the operating budget in three years while running deficits in the capital

00:01:30.220 budget to, quote, catalyze investment. Carney said, quote, Canadians deserve a government that works for

00:01:36.340 you, a government that spends less and invests more. However, as the poll commissioned by the Canadian

00:01:41.840 taxpayers' federation indicates, Canadians are sceptical that a Carney government would achieve this

00:01:46.780 objective, with those living in the prairies and Alberta more sceptical than the national average.

00:01:52.240 In a poll conducted by Angus Reid in early April, nearly 50% of Canadians said they wanted the federal

00:01:58.040 government to focus on balancing the budget, even if that requires cutting social programs, while the

00:02:02.980 other half preferred expanding social programs, even if it means continued deficit spending.

00:02:08.400 Just over a quarter of voters who indicated that they will be voting Liberal in the federal election

00:02:13.560 said that balancing the budget was a priority. True North reached out to the Liberal Party for

00:02:18.140 comment, but no response was given. So, Jeff, most Canadians will know that Carney recently unveiled

00:02:24.520 his costed platform, but how much more debt can Canadians expect to take on should the Liberals win?

00:02:31.020 Yeah, Isaac, Mark Carney's costed platform, as unveiled this month, lays out a clear picture of the

00:02:35.860 debt Canadians could expect under a Liberal government. According to a CBC News report on April 20th,

00:02:41.320 the Liberals are promising $130 billion in new measures over the next four years, which, when

00:02:46.720 combined with existing spending, will add $225 billion to the federal debt. That's a huge increase,

00:02:52.920 especially considering the scepticism already shown in the Leger poll, where 65% of Canadians doubt Carney

00:02:59.160 can balance the operational budget. The platform projects an annual deficit of $62.3 billion in 2024,

00:03:05.860 or 1.96% of GDP, dropping slightly to $60 billion the following year, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 1.83%.

00:03:16.140 Carney's plan to split the budget, balancing the operating side in three years, while renting

00:03:20.400 deficits on the capital side to catalyze investment is supposed to justify this, but the

00:03:25.080 numbers are stark. The Liberals' own projections under Trudeau have the deficit at $131.4 billion over

00:03:31.380 four years. Carney's plan nearly doubles that burden. So, if the Liberals win, Canadians are

00:03:36.220 looking at $225 billion more in debt over four years, a steep price for his promises, especially

00:03:41.940 when only 35% of polled Canadians trust him to manage the finances effectively.

00:03:46.180 And just quickly, for those of you who don't know, I'm kind of a financial nerd, so I was reading

00:03:49.760 the budget documents, and I just wanted to quickly mention that that $62 billion deficit

00:03:55.480 is the existing spending plus the new measures minus the revenue that Carney expects from the

00:04:02.080 tariff war. So, the tariffs are actually helping him on the ledger, because without the tariffs,

00:04:07.060 instead of $62 billion deficit, it would be an $82 billion deficit, because in that first year,

00:04:12.240 they're expecting $20 billion in revenue from tariff measures. The United Kingdom's top court

00:04:20.420 has ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex, setting off a stark 0.93

00:04:25.680 contrast with Canada's charter-backed policy that identifies self-described gender identity as a

00:04:30.940 protected group, even in sex-segregated spaces. In a unanimous decision, the UK Supreme Court ruled

00:04:37.060 that the term woman in anti-discrimination law applies only to biological females, excluding

00:04:42.700 transgender individuals from spaces like change rooms, hospital wards, and sports teams when those

00:04:47.740 facilities are designated for women. Conversely, Bill C-16, introduced in 2016 by former Prime

00:04:53.680 Minister Justin Trudeau's government, added gender identity and gender expression as protected grounds

00:04:58.980 under the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code. Correctional Service Canada has confirmed

00:05:04.060 it places inmates in facilities based on their gender identity, stating it applies fair and 1.00

00:05:09.380 impartial decision-making methods to meet the needs of transgender offenders. Director of Four

00:05:14.480 Women Scotland, Susan Smith, said, quote, Everyone knows what sex is, and you can't change it. It's 1.00

00:05:20.780 common sense, basic common sense, and the fact that we have been down a rabbit hole where people have

00:05:25.560 tried to deny science, and hopefully this will now see us back to reality. The case challenged a 2018

00:05:30.720 Scottish law that required women to make up at least 50% of public board members, where the government 0.99

00:05:36.160 had counted transgender women with gender recognition certificates as part of the quota.

00:05:40.340 The Supreme Court ruled that doing so would create heterogeneous groupings and conflict with the

00:05:44.540 Equality Act, which defines sex based on biology. Liberal leader Mark Carney offered a muddled response

00:05:50.200 when True North journalist Alex Zoltan recently asked whether biological women should have the right 0.79

00:05:55.060 to access spaces without biological males, including in sports, change rooms, washrooms, prisons, and

00:06:00.900 homeless shelters. So Isaac, how did Carney respond to True North's questions during the debate?

00:06:05.780 Yeah, Jeff, so True North's Alex Zoltan actually got the last question in Carney's Q&A, which was only

00:06:10.460 the fourth question, two being asked in French before him and one in English. And as you said, he asked how

00:06:16.380 many genders there were, which Carney replied, quote, In terms of sex, there are two, which might have not sat

00:06:23.060 well with some extreme leftists. But Alex followed up, as you said, asking whether biological women had

00:06:29.720 a right to their own spaces, sports, change rooms, prisons, and homeless shelters. And Carney dodged the

00:06:35.500 question. He said, quote, This is Canada, that as a general objective, yes, we work where we value all

00:06:42.720 Canadians for who they are, and will continue to do so. And interestingly, Carney actually said um and ah

00:06:49.260 about the same number of times, if not more, than the other words used in that sentence, which is a

00:06:53.920 recurring theme, it seems, for Carney when he's posed questions for which he's unprepared. Juno News'

00:06:59.700 Kian Bexty also got a question. In fact, he was the first person to ask a question in the English

00:07:04.140 line. He asked Carney whether he thought Justin Trudeau was a good prime minister. Perhaps

00:07:09.360 unsurprisingly, Carney aligned himself with Trudeau and said they had the same values. He said the difference

00:07:15.120 between them was that Carney would put more emphasis on the economy. Of course, we now know

00:07:20.520 that Carney is planning to put Canada into more debt than Trudeau would have. So not sure whether

00:07:25.800 that point is entirely true. Carney also dodged Kian's question on how he reconciles with having

00:07:31.080 the same MPs as the Trudeau government, but promising to be different. Liberal leader Mark Carney has

00:07:39.820 repeatedly claimed to have no conflicts of interest while also promoting a company owned by Brookfield

00:07:44.900 asset management during the French leadership debate. While praising the benefits of nuclear

00:07:50.040 energy during the French debate, Carney mentioned the Westinghouse Electric Company as a viable option.

00:07:55.260 The American Nuclear Power Company, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was procured by Brookfield

00:08:00.220 under Carney's tenure as co-chair and remains profitable for the firm, which Carney held $6.8 million

00:08:06.440 in options as of December 31st. Carney said, quote, we have a great advantage here in Canada. We have

00:08:13.160 uranium, that's one of the advantages. We have major nuclear companies including Kandu, Westinghouse,

00:08:18.860 and Cameco. Carney went on to begin discussing the benefits of small modular nuclear reactor

00:08:23.820 technology, another Westinghouse pursuit before being interrupted. Carney has refused to disclose

00:08:28.960 his assets amid mounting pressure from media, his political opponents, and the vast majority of

00:08:33.980 Canadians who want him to prove that his potential leadership won't be swayed by conflicts of interest.

00:08:38.960 Carney maintains that he doesn't have any conflicts, but has also made it clear that he won't disclose

00:08:43.560 his assets until after the election concludes, even interrupting a reporter to say,

00:08:48.420 what possible conflict would I have? However, signs that such conflicts may exist are already

00:08:53.300 beginning to appear as Brookfield formed a partnership with Cameco to acquire Westinghouse

00:08:57.880 in 2023 under Carney's direction. His former company now owns 51% of Westinghouse while Cameco has the

00:09:04.080 remaining 40%. So Jeff, are there other companies owned by Brookfield that could benefit from Carney's

00:09:09.120 policies? Yeah, Isaac, Mark Carney's ties to Brookfield asset management raise legitimate

00:09:13.940 questions about other companies in their portfolio, especially given his reluctance to disclose his

00:09:18.320 assets. Beyond Westinghouse, which he name dropped during the French debate, Brookfield has staked in

00:09:23.360 several firms that align closely with Carney's policy priorities. Brookfield Renewable Partners, a major

00:09:28.780 player in their portfolio, stands to gain from Carney's heavy push for green energy. According to a

00:09:33.680 Brookfield press conference from March 2023, this subsidiary manages nearly 46,000 megawatts of

00:09:40.120 renewable capacity, hydro, wind, and solar across five continents. Carney's platform, as outlined in a

00:09:46.400 Liberal Party statement on April 15th, emphasizes expanding renewable energy infrastructure, including

00:09:51.780 tax incentives for solar and wind projects. Brookfield Renewable, with its $20 billion in assets under

00:09:58.040 management as of late 2024, could see a direct boost from such policies. Another example is Urban Grid,

00:10:04.700 a US-based solar developer fully acquired by Brookfield in 2022. A company update from January 2025 notes,

00:10:11.780 Urban Grid has a pipeline of 20,000 megawatts of utility-scale solar and storage capacity.

00:10:17.480 Carney's pledge to catalyze investment in clean energy through a capital budget deficit, as mentioned in

00:10:22.840 his April 2025 costed platform, could funnel federal support towards solar projects, potentially benefiting

00:10:28.840 Urban Grid's expansion in Canada, where Brookfield has been eyeing growth. Then there's XELIO, a Spanish solar

00:10:35.400 developer where Brookfield bought the remaining 50% stake in March 2023, valued at $2 billion. XELIO's focus

00:10:43.400 on utility-scale solar aligns with Carney's green agenda, and any federal push for international partnerships and

00:10:49.160 renewables could pad their bottom line. With Carney holding $6.8 million in Brookfield options as of

00:10:55.320 December 31st, 2024, likely worth over $20 million Canadian now, given the stock's rise to $86.26 Canadian

00:11:03.160 dollars in early 2025, these connections look like potential conflicts waiting to happen, especially

00:11:08.120 since he's dodging transparency until after the election.

00:11:14.360 That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of new episodes every weekday by

00:11:20.200 subscribing to The Daily Brief on iTunes and Spotify. Also, while you're at it, make sure to hit us with a

00:11:25.640 five-star rating.

Juno News - April 22, 2025

Most Canadians don't trust Carney to fix the deficit

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