Juno News - September 05, 2025


Will Carney rein in Liberal spending？


Episode Stats

Length

14 minutes

Words per Minute

143.6369

Word Count

2,114

Sentence Count

103


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Prime Minister Mark Carney admitted that the Liberal government has to find ways to rein in its unsustainable federal spending during a cabinet planning session.
00:00:14.680 The Canada Border Services Agency is refusing to release data on how many international students and temporary foreign workers actually leave Canada once their visa permits expire.
00:00:27.080 Two Canadian senators who have been accused of wittingly aiding the Communist Party of China have launched a new non-profit to fight against what they call exclusion experienced by those accused of foreign government ties.
00:00:42.420 Hello Canada, it's Friday, September 5th. This is the True North Daily Brief. I'm Cosmin Georgia.
00:00:48.160 And I'm Clayton Demain.
00:00:49.440 We've got you covered with all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives.
00:00:56.580 You won't hear anywhere else.
00:01:02.160 Prime Minister Mark Carney and Finance Minister Philippe-Francois Champagne spoke ahead of a cabinet meeting admitting that the Liberals have to find ways to rein in unsustainable federal government spending.
00:01:15.180 Liberal cabinet ministers are convening for the second day for a cabinet planning forum,
00:01:20.720 which Carney promised would be focused on finding ways to spend less while also boosting investments.
00:01:27.180 Carney did not specify whether any significant cuts to specific departments were forthcoming.
00:01:33.140 The meeting comes as U.S. tariffs remain on select items such as Canadian steel and aluminum.
00:01:38.680 Carney said Wednesday in Toronto that the cabinet meeting comes during, quote,
00:01:43.120 challenging economic times due to the U.S.'s shifting global trade policy.
00:01:48.640 He said, quote,
00:01:49.720 We have a riskier global environment.
00:01:52.180 We have changes in technology that bring both promise but also dislocation.
00:01:57.140 And so the focus of the government from the start has been on what we can control.
00:02:01.420 He said priorities during the meetings will include his Build Canada Homes plan
00:02:05.720 to double the pace of home building over the next decade,
00:02:09.080 infrastructure projects, and increase defense spending to meet NATO goals,
00:02:13.580 all while making cuts to the federal budget.
00:02:16.020 The federal government has been growing spending as a whole at over 7% a year on average for over a decade.
00:02:23.760 That's twice the rate of growth of the economy on average.
00:02:27.400 It's not a sustainable situation.
00:02:30.200 So we need to rein in spending.
00:02:32.900 We need to find efficiencies.
00:02:34.620 Champagne also called the growth in liberal government spending, quote,
00:02:38.040 unsustainable on Thursday before cabinet met for its second and last day.
00:02:42.820 The prime minister was right when he said over the last years you've seen an increase in spending of about 7%.
00:02:49.260 That's not sustainable.
00:02:51.460 Folks at home understand that.
00:02:53.220 So folks at home have been tightening their belt for quite some time.
00:02:56.280 They said, if I do it, the government has to do it as well.
00:02:59.520 So having a leaner and more efficient government to provide services to Canadians,
00:03:05.280 that is needed as you're looking to rebuild this nation for the 21st century.
00:03:09.460 I mean, this seems too little, too late.
00:03:13.040 Spending has been out of control, especially since the pandemic.
00:03:18.660 The liberal government has ramped up spending to never-before-seen levels,
00:03:24.640 outpacing even spending during major conflicts like World War I, World War II.
00:03:30.860 Additionally, they have missed any sort of budget benchmarks or targets that they've set for themselves.
00:03:41.460 So, Clayton, are Canadians to believe that federal spending just got away from them,
00:03:47.900 as they seem to claim?
00:03:51.260 And isn't this the same government who has run all of these deficits
00:03:55.200 since it first came into office under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau?
00:03:59.840 Well, exactly, Cosmin.
00:04:01.480 This is the same liberal government who's run deficits every year since 2015,
00:04:06.480 and those have ranged from $1 billion to $40 billion.
00:04:10.940 And, you know, that's resulted in the liberal government spending
00:04:15.020 over $53.8 billion on debt interest in this fiscal year,
00:04:20.740 which massively exceeds spending on things like child care benefits
00:04:25.280 and is $1 billion more than it spends on the Canada Health Transfer,
00:04:30.660 which is how the federal government pays provinces to fund health care.
00:04:33.960 But if you'll recall last year when Chrystia Freeland resigned,
00:04:37.980 she was set to give her fall economic statement.
00:04:41.300 And in that release, it was revealed that the liberal government spent $61.9 billion
00:04:46.480 on deficit spending, and with Freeland at the helm as finance minister
00:04:51.880 and Mark Carney as the financial advisor to the Liberal Party.
00:04:55.920 And that number was more than 50% higher than the $40 billion guardrail
00:05:01.300 that Freeland herself put on the liberal government for deficit spending for that year.
00:05:08.120 Carney himself has pledged more deficit spending,
00:05:11.260 and his plan for this year was to spend $486 billion,
00:05:16.420 which, despite all the posturing as a fiscally conservative and experienced businessman,
00:05:22.380 is more planned spending than what Trudeau's government was projected to spend in his final year.
00:05:27.580 But the liberals want Canadians to believe that this time it'll be different
00:05:30.920 because Canadians should think of it not as spending, but as investments.
00:05:35.100 Despite confirming it collects individual entry and exit information on all travellers,
00:05:44.720 the Canada Border Services Agency is refusing to release data
00:05:49.040 on how many international students and temporary foreign workers
00:05:52.640 actually leave the country when their visa permits expire.
00:05:56.400 In response to a True North inquiry,
00:05:58.880 the CBSA confirmed it collects exit information at land and air border crossings.
00:06:04.560 This data is used to confirm whether individuals remain in the country
00:06:09.760 after their authorized stay ends.
00:06:12.080 A CBSA spokesperson told True North the data is applied on a, quote,
00:06:16.280 case-by-case basis to support immigration enforcement.
00:06:20.240 However, quote, aggregate data on specific cohorts,
00:06:24.640 including international students and temporary workers, is not available.
00:06:29.280 The federal government, through Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada,
00:06:33.520 publishes detailed arrival numbers, but cannot tally how many temporary residents
00:06:38.800 depart Canada once their visas expire.
00:06:40.980 The CBSA stated its entry-exit system helps officers identify visa overstays,
00:06:47.540 target enforcement, and track departures of high-risk people or goods.
00:06:52.060 CBSA refused to disclose how many foreign students and workers left Canada in recent years.
00:06:58.020 True North also asked the IRCC for exit data, but did not receive a response.
00:07:04.540 So obviously there's a lot we won't know due to the tight-lipped border security and immigration
00:07:09.680 agencies in Canada, but what do we know about the state of immigration right now?
00:07:15.140 Like, what are the numbers and how many people can we confirm have overstayed their welcome
00:07:20.100 in this country, Cosman?
00:07:21.220 So yeah, you're absolutely right.
00:07:24.000 There's a lot the federal government agencies aren't telling us.
00:07:28.380 As you mentioned, the Canada Border Services Agency admits they do collect exit data on everybody
00:07:34.640 coming in and out of the country, and that's obvious if you've ever crossed the border or
00:07:39.360 been to the airport, they know where you're going, how long you're staying, etc.
00:07:43.940 But they refuse to release the big-picture numbers when pressed on.
00:07:49.820 So we don't actually know how many international students or temporary workers are leaving once
00:07:55.020 their permits expire, but what we do know is this.
00:07:58.800 Immigration is at a record high, and it's still high.
00:08:03.080 In just the first four months of 2025, over 807,000 newcomer applications were admitted.
00:08:09.560 That breaks down to about 132,000 permanent residents and 200,000 study permits, and additionally
00:08:17.180 close to half a million work permits.
00:08:19.340 So Statistics Canada estimates that almost 3 million people are in Canada right now on some
00:08:25.320 kind of temporary status, which is way up from the numbers in 2016, which was around 750,000.
00:08:34.840 So as for overstays, the government won't give a clear count.
00:08:39.900 They themselves admitted that anywhere up to half a million people could be living here
00:08:44.540 illegally after their visa expired.
00:08:47.120 And we've also learned there are at least 600 convicted foreign criminals still at large
00:08:52.760 in Canada.
00:08:53.840 So essentially, the bottom line is the government's betting on over a million temporary residents
00:09:00.980 voluntarily packing up and leaving over the next couple years.
00:09:05.440 But there's very little evidence that's actually happening, and the agencies won't release the
00:09:11.560 numbers that would prove it.
00:09:13.760 So unless there's a push within the government to get these numbers out, they're not very forthcoming
00:09:21.780 with the media, obviously.
00:09:23.800 And with the ATIP process, the access to information process, you know, is one avenue, but it's been
00:09:32.340 so delayed, and the information they usually give isn't the full picture.
00:09:38.820 So there definitely needs to come some internal pressure, you know, hopefully from the conservatives,
00:09:44.640 but we have yet to see anything like that.
00:09:47.420 But I personally would like to see if they're even tracking, or if they have just simply
00:09:54.520 estimates, because at this point, we can only guess.
00:10:03.100 Facing allegations of foreign interference on behalf of the People's Republic of China,
00:10:08.420 two Canadian senators have launched a new organization to fight against what they call the exclusion
00:10:14.240 experienced by those accused of foreign government ties.
00:10:18.200 Senators Yuen, Pao Wu, and Victor Oh, along with others, James Ho, and David Tam, have announced
00:10:24.440 the launch of a new non-profit organization, Canadians United Against Modern Exclusion.
00:10:29.840 Wu and Oh were among five elected officials named by journalist Sam Cooper as allegedly being
00:10:36.020 the unidentified elected officials mentioned in a foreign interference report for, quote,
00:10:42.460 wittingly working in favor of the Chinese Communist Party.
00:10:46.420 Wu has denied the allegations, though Oh has not made any public statements rejecting the
00:10:51.940 accusations, and did not respond when asked by True North last October.
00:10:56.880 Oh visited China several times to meet with PRC officials through the Canada-China Legislative
00:11:02.780 Association to promote the sharing of information and deepening relationships between the two
00:11:08.780 countries.
00:11:09.300 The controversial trip to China included interim NDP leader Don Davies and former MP Han Dong,
00:11:16.860 who resigned in March 2023 following media reports of alleged connections to the CCP.
00:11:23.140 The new entity set up by the senators and others is billed as a non-partisan group bent on defending
00:11:31.120 Canadians whose rights and freedoms are allegedly compromised by, quote, false or exaggerated claims
00:11:37.560 of foreign interference.
00:11:39.680 Wu told True North that rights are violated, quote, if they are accused of foreign interference
00:11:44.340 simply because of the views they hold or the groups or people they associate with.
00:11:50.940 The group warns that by accusing someone of acting on behalf of a foreign entity, quote, simply
00:11:56.840 because of their ties to foreign entities such as the PRC, Canadians are excluding the accused
00:12:02.720 and engaging in racism.
00:12:07.960 So Clayton, you wrote this article.
00:12:11.040 What is this group intending to actually do?
00:12:14.500 What are some of the things that it's posted on its website or said during the, you know,
00:12:20.340 revealing press conference by its founders?
00:12:22.840 Right.
00:12:23.600 So the group is supposed to document foreign interference and national security threat accusations,
00:12:30.060 which they say are just cloaked charter rights and freedoms abuses, defend those accused of
00:12:36.900 foreign interference, educate people on this new form of racism they're labeling as exclusion,
00:12:42.620 and to advocate for policy changes when it comes to national security and foreign interference.
00:12:49.480 But some of what the group said is quite rich.
00:12:53.100 They said accusing people based on their ties with the People's Republic of China is actually
00:12:59.220 xenophobia and racism.
00:13:01.480 And they say that this form of racism could lead to unfair prosecutions and stigmatization
00:13:06.900 of those people with ties to the Chinese regime.
00:13:11.660 And, you know, that people shouldn't be presumed to be disloyal for trying to, quote, improve
00:13:17.760 relations with the PRC, or for denying that China poses any threat to Canadian society.
00:13:23.820 They also accused police, national security and intelligence agencies of taking cues from
00:13:30.100 the political class and suppressing Canadians' rights and freedoms with these accusations.
00:13:36.200 And I asked Wu, though, about what he and the group mean by ties to the PRC.
00:13:42.480 It's mentioned like five times on the website in the summary page.
00:13:48.180 And, you know, if he or the other members or the founders happen to be one of these individuals
00:13:53.520 with ties to the regime that they mention so much on the website.
00:13:57.040 And Wu told True North that each of the founding directors are, quote, longtime Canadians who
00:14:04.420 are committed to the betterment of our country.
00:14:07.640 And when asked whether the group had ties to the PRC, he said, quote, we are ethnic Chinese
00:14:13.240 who are part of a diverse global Chinese community with ties to many different parts of the world.
00:14:18.920 So obviously skirting the question of whether they themselves had ties to the People's Republic
00:14:24.720 of China.
00:14:27.040 That's it for today, folks.
00:14:30.160 Thanks for tuning in.
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