‘You can't take shortcuts on treaty rights': Mulcair on looming Bill C-5 vote
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CTV News Political Commentator Tom Mulcair on what to expect after Prime Minister Carney returns to Parliament for the first time after the G7 summit.
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Toronto Sun
25 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
EDITORIAL: The financial risks of ‘nation-building'
Prime Minister Mark Carney attends the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS Now that Prime Minister Mark Carney's legislation to fast-track 'nation-building' projects has been approved, the concern is whether taxpayer money spent building them will be respected. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Nation-building projects are what governments used to call capital spending and we already know that Carney is planning to finance federal projects with more public debt. In his election platform alone, Carney identified $130 billion in new spending over four years with total deficit spending of $224.8 billion, 71% higher than what the Trudeau government said it would spend. The Carney government will also be green-lighting selected capital projects submitted by the provinces involving both public and private sector spending. The problem is we all know what happens when governments fast track public spending while ignoring the rules aimed at giving taxpayers good value for money. It ends in financial disasters such as the ArriveCAN app, developed during the pandemic, that was supposed to cost $80,000 and ended up at almost $60 million, according to Auditor General Karen Hogan. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. She warned that the failure of public servants to follow contracting rules that led to the ArriveCAN mess is widespread across the government, based on her investigations of other contracts. The history of military purchases by the defence department alone is replete with financial fiascoes. In her recent report, Hogan estimated the cost of replacing Canada's aging fleet of CF-18 fighter jets with 88 new F-35s, increased by almost 50% between 2022 and 2024 from $19 billion to $27.7 billion. She said it happened because the government relied on outdated data and failed to develop contingency plans for managing financial risks associated with the project. Going forward, spending on the military is poised to skyrocket given Carney's commitment to meet Canada's NATO target of spending 2% of annual GDP on defence by March 31, 2026, rising to 5% by 2035 at an added estimated cost of $150 billion annually. Meanwhile, parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux said he can't assess whether Carney's claim he will balance the operating budget in three years is credible because the government hasn't provided definitions of what it means by operational versus capital spending. Unless the government cleans up its act, we're facing years of billion-dollar boondoggles that we'll only learn about years after the fact. NHL Columnists Columnists Toronto Raptors Toronto Maple Leafs
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Should Canada scrap digital service tax amid U.S. negotiation break down?
Should Canada scrap digital service tax amid U.S. negotiation break down? Former New Brunswick premier Brian Gallant believes Prime Minister Carney has 'the right approach' so far in the stalled negotiations with the U.S.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Province's takeover of OCDSB, other school boards slammed as 'power grab'
Social Sharing When Education Minister Paul Calandra announced the province would be appointing supervisors to four Ontario school boards — including Ottawa's largest — on Friday, he said it was to ensure that "every decision made by the board prioritizes direct support for students in the classroom." But according to several critics in Ottawa, the appointments won't have that effect. The takeover came out of an investigation into several boards launched earlier in 2025 that projected a fifth straight year of financial deficits at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB). The province has now appointed consultant Robert Plamondon to oversee the board. In a press conference, Calandra said supervisors like Plamondon will look closely at how the boards are run, find savings and make changes needed to restore responsible management. While an initial assessment of the OCDSB's finances predicted another deficit for 2025-26, trustees did approve $18.1 million in cuts earlier this month in order to balance their budget. "The fact that we have passed this balanced budget and the ministry is still trying to take us over, I don't know where they're expecting to find additional savings," said board trustee Lyra Evans. 'Primary problem' is funding In a press release announcing the takeover, the ministry said the four school boards had exhibited "mismanagement and poor decision-making." It said the OCDSB had "completely depleted its reserves, incurred an accumulated deficit, and plans to use unsustainable proceeds from asset sales to balance its books." Calandra also spoke Friday about frustrated parents and noted the recent resignation of two OCDSB trustees. He also said the budgets for the next school year had yet to be reviewed by staff. According to Evans, the school board's "primary problem" is the funding it gets from the province. "There are huge deltas in things that the ministry has not adequately funded us for," she said, listing a gap between government funding and OCDSB spending on special education and on statutory entitlements like employment insurance and the Canadian Pension Plan. While the province continues to boast its "record funding" for education, Ottawa West-Nepean MPP Chandra Pasma says it's actually to blame for any deficits. One recent report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives pegged the provincial funding shortfall to the OCDSB over the last seven years at $338.4 million, while noting its per-student funding has dropped by $560 from the 2018-19 school year and the 2025-26 school year. "If funding had just kept pace since 2018, the Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board and Ottawa-Carleton District School Board would not have [been facing] a deficit this year," said Pasma, the Ontario NDP's education critic. Pasma acknowledged previous instances of financial mismanagement from Ontario school boards, but said there are other ways to deal with misuse of funds that don't amount to an "unmitigated power grab." Need for 'clear, concise rules' on spending Calandra said the appointments were also motivated by how the ministry has "decentralized" decision-making, giving trustees more leeway with budgeting and curriculum choices. "That is where the Ministry of Education has to come back in, to refocus centralized decision making and provide clear, concise rules on how money is to be spent, on what trustees are supposed to be doing, on what boards of education are supposed to be doing," he said. Evans disagreed, saying a supervisor may not understand the needs of different communities. "We have locally elected trustees because it allows us to advocate for our communities and to bring that voice to the district. If we don't have that local voice at the table, then what works in Toronto might not work here," she said. "It's very easy to move in and break things when you have no understanding of why things are the way they are." Plamondon, an author and academic who previously as the interim chair of the National Capital Commission, started in his role as supervisor on Friday.
