Poilievre sends Carney budget demands: scrap federal diesel taxes until Canada Day, cut wasteful spending

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has written to Prime Minister Mark Carney with a list of demands ahead of the federal budget on November 5, centred on fuel taxes and spending: eliminate all federal taxes on diesel until Canada Day, suspend the GST on fuel until summer, and permanently scrap the fuel standard tax. Poilievre says suspending the GST on fuel and scrapping the fuel standard tax would save Canadians money whether they are buying groceries or toys for Christmas.

Spending cuts and the fiscal anchors

The letter also calls on the Liberal government to cut wasteful and inflationary spending and to fulfil its promises to reduce both the debt-to-GDP ratio and the deficit-to-GDP ratio. Poilievre says keeping his word to reduce the debt and deficit as shares of the economy is the bare minimum Carney can do. In the letter he writes: You promised affordability. Yet everything is more expensive since you took office.

Budget office figures and the finance minister's reply

The Parliamentary Budget Office has predicted the government will not meet its fiscal anchor of maintaining a declining deficit-to-GDP ratio, expecting the measure to rise in 2027-28 and 2029-30; it expects a $63.3-billion deficit in fiscal 2026-27, down from a $71.8-billion forecast in June, peaking at $70.2 billion the following year. Poilievre says Carney's government has the biggest deficit ever outside of the COVID-19 pandemic and the highest spending as a share of GDP since the 1990s debt crisis — his charge, not the budget office's conclusion. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has said the budget will outline the next steps in the plan to build a stronger, more resilient and more affordable Canada. Note: this letter is an opposition demand; whether the government adopts it will only be known when the budget is tabled on November 5.