Carney signals he’s prepared to fight an election over next week’s budget

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Prime Minister Mark Carney is signaling he is prepared to fight an election over the federal budget, which is set to be tabled on Tuesday.

“I’m always prepared to stand up for the right thing,” Carney said to reporters on Saturday as he wrapped the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea.

Three seats shy of a majority government, the Liberals will need votes from another party to pass the budget.

This budget will be the first with Carney as prime minister, and the first test of his government as a confidence vote.

Government sources tell CTV News that details of the budget are still being finalized.

Leading up to the budget, the Liberals and Conservatives have been accusing one another of wanting to trigger an election over the document.

Earlier this week on Parliament Hill, Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon said he was still speaking to opposition parties for support and is “prepared to negotiate on details,” but “not prepared to negotiate on principles.”

MacKinnon also said Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is “determined to try and cause a Christmas election.”

Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer, meanwhile, said his party thinks the federal government is trying to force an election by preparing a budget that the Opposition won’t support.

“It’s becoming pretty clear that the government is going to use their costly budget as an excuse for costly elections,” Scheer told reporters on Wednesday.

The Conservatives have made a series of demands, including keeping the federal deficit to under $42 billion, while the Bloc Québécois has made 18 asks, including six they described as non-negotiable. One of those non-negotiable demands is a 10 per cent increase to Old Age Security benefits.

Asked directly whether he is confident he has the support to pass the budget, Carney wouldn’t say, but said he is “100 per cent confident” it’s the right one for the country “at this moment.”

“This is not a game. This is a critical moment in the global economy,” the prime minister added.

For months, Carney and his cabinet have framed the highly anticipated budget as one of “investment” and “austerity.” That has prompted some to question how the federal government can earmark billions of dollars in new spending while fulfilling its promise to balance the operational budget in three years.

Over the summer, Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, along with Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali, asked ministers to find 7.5 per cent in savings for the 2026-27 fiscal year, beginning on April 1, 2026, followed by 10 per cent in 2027-28 and 15 per cent in 2028-29.

Meanwhile, in a speech to students at the University of Ottawa last week, Carney said the upcoming budget will include “generational investments,” but cautioned that transforming the economy will “take some sacrifices.”

On Wednesday, Champagne signalled the size of the federal public service must return to more “sustainable” levels and “workforce adjustments” are coming.

Ahead of the budget, interim Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Jason Jacques said the country’s fiscal outlook has Canada “at the precipice.”

“Things cannot continue as they are, and I think everybody knows that,” he later told CTV Question Period.

In his most recent economic and fiscal outlook – released in September – Jacques estimated the Liberals will post an annual deficit of $68.5 billion this year, up from $51.7 billion dollars last year. His office also projected that the federal debt-to-GDP ratio — one of the government’s fiscal anchors — will increase over the medium-term and remain above its pre-pandemic level.

The federal government last released a full budget in April 2024 with a fall economic statement at the end of last year.

With files from CTV News’ Spencer Van Dyk