Prime Minister Mark Carney is under fire for refusing to disclose the size of his government’s 2025 deficit, with both the Bloc Québécois and Conservatives warning the shortfall could top $80 billion — the largest since the pandemic.Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet said Ottawa’s ballooning spending spree makes it impossible to avoid a massive deficit. “People are talking about a deficit of some $80 billion. This is an historic amount,” Blanchet told reporters, adding Carney made Justin Trudeau “look stingy.”Blacklock's Reporter said the 2025 budget year began April 1, but cabinet has yet to table its plan or provide numbers. .The finance department’s last update in December forecasted a 2023 deficit of $61.9 billion, 55% higher than expected, and a 2024 shortfall of $48.3 billion, 21% above projections.Blanchet said his $80 billion estimate factored in Liberal promises of higher military spending, the elimination of $30 billion in counter-tariffs, and campaign pledges costing billions more. Cabinet offered no comment.Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre went further, predicting an $84 billion deficit and accusing Carney of breaking every major promise he has made. “It looks like Mark Carney’s deficit will be even bigger than the one Justin Trudeau left behind,” said Poilievre. “He has 86,000 more unemployed people than Justin Trudeau had.”Carney has promised to balance the “operating budget” by 2029, though the Parliamentary Budget Office has cast doubt on that goal, noting there is no clear definition of what counts as “operating” versus “non-operating” spending.Parliament has not seen a balanced budget in 18 years. Carney himself admitted the current pace of over-spending is “not a sustainable situation,” but has offered no details beyond vague assurances of finding “efficiencies.”
