{"id":265072,"date":"2025-11-06T07:26:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T07:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/265072\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T07:26:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T07:26:09","slug":"federal-budget-2025-attracting-1-trillion-in-investment-likely-an-understatement-carney-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/265072\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Budget 2025: Attracting $1-trillion in investment likely an understatement, Carney says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney says there is tremendous interest internationally in what Canada is doing and that ‘major investors are very interested in coming here.’Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Mark Carney<\/a> suggested Wednesday that the federal budget\u2019s<\/a> declaration that it will spur $1-trillion in total investment over five years is an understatement.<\/p>\n

The budget, Mr. Carney\u2019s first since becoming Prime Minister, unveiled a plan for more than $140-billion in targeted new spending, as well as tax incentives that the government said would lead to a combination of $1-trillion in public and private-sector investment in infrastructure<\/a>, housing and other parts of the Canadian economy by 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that it underweights the actual economic impact, because there is a considerable amount of public investment as well,\u201d Mr. Carney told reporters in Ottawa the morning after the budget was tabled.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s budget document says half of that investment would be through the private sector, but some business and investment leaders said Wednesday that Ottawa needs to do more to set the right conditions for that to happen. They want to see progress on the regulatory burden in Canada, on the tax regime and on fast-tracking major projects.<\/p>\n

Federal budget 2025: Carney earmarks $89.7-billion in new spending to counter U.S. protectionism<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a step in the right direction \u2013 tilting toward investment and inviting long-term capital,” said Michel Leduc, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board\u2019s senior managing director of public affairs and communications. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, it comes down to execution: bankable projects, a rules-based, predictable framework and timely approvals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Liberal budget outlined a plan to run substantial deficits \u2013 reaching $78.3-billion this year \u2013 to fund a package of tax breaks and infrastructure projects that is aimed at reorienting the Canadian economy so that it is less dependent on the United States, its top trading partner. <\/p>\n

Speaking at a business lunch in Montreal on Wednesday, Finance Minister Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne was asked whether the budget sends a signal to business leaders to stay in Canada and invest here given the aggressive fiscal measures introduced in President Donald Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act this past summer. Mr. Champagne said Canada is now more competitive than the United States on the marginal effective tax rate with this budget. <\/p>\n

\u201cToday I can say that $1 invested in Canada is more profitable than $1 invested in the United States on a tax basis,\u201d Mr. Champagne told the audience, which included several well-known business people including National Bank of Canada chief executive Laurent Ferreira and Quebecor Inc. CEO Pierre Karl P\u00e9ladeau. <\/p>\n

Andrew Coyne: After all the hype, Carney\u2019s first budget fails to meet the moment<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is tremendous interest internationally in what is going on in Canada,\u201d Mr. Carney said, referencing his recent trip through Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cMajor investors are very interested in coming here,\u201d he said, adding that there is also interest from Europe and other parts of the world, as well as from Canadian pension funds and institutional investors. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re creating a better investment environment for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a House of Commons finance committee appearance on Wednesday, Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem declined to comment on the specifics of the budget but suggested that the emphasis on pulling in private-sector capital was appropriate. He added that Canada needs to look at its regulatory burden if it wants to attract more foreign direct investment. <\/p>\n

Mr. Macklem said he hears repeatedly from foreign investors that \u201cthere\u2019s too many levels [of regulatory oversight], and it takes too long, and I can\u2019t afford to tie up my capital waiting for an uncertain outcome.\u201d <\/p>\n

This budget is a Trump survival plan. Here are the highlights<\/a><\/p>\n

He also said that Canada needs to work on being able to get resources to markets. \u201cThat\u2019s transportation. It\u2019s pipelines, it\u2019s ports. Foreign investment will come if they see the return. And so, we\u2019ve got to look at investments that will make that more attractive. We need to make Canada more investable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scotiabank economist Rebekah Young cautioned that the $1-trillion figure relies on \u201cfuzzy\u201d math that \u201ccomes with a host of caveats and cautions.\u201d She said in a research note that the government may have \u201coverhyped\u201d the budget by calling it transformational.<\/p>\n

Desjardins economists Jimmy Jean and Randall Bartlett published an analysis saying talk of \u201ctransformative\u201d change is in the eye of the beholder. <\/p>\n

\u201cBudget 2025 was expected to be one for the record books, but in some ways, it was more of the same,\u201d they wrote. \u201cIt seems like a lost opportunity, although it may just be the beginning of the reorientation of federal fiscal policy toward investment, productivity and growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about that criticism, Mr. Carney pushed back.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, this budget is a sea change in the approach for the government,\u201d he said, referencing plans to scale back internal spending. \u201cI\u2019ve been around a lot of budgets. This is a very different budget. I have a different view than the way you depicted it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ottawa to cut 40,000 public service jobs as part of $60-billion internal savings plan<\/a><\/p>\n

The budget\u2019s projected deficit of $78.3-billion is up from $36.3-billion the year before.<\/p>\n

The debt as a percentage of GDP will rise slightly to 43.1 per cent next year, up from 42.4 per cent in the current fiscal year, and stay around that higher level over the following three years.<\/p>\n

Previous Liberal budgets had pledged to keep the debt-to-GDP ratio on a declining trend.<\/p>\n

Mr. Carney defended his fiscal approach, saying Canada\u2019s budget balance compares well with its international peers in the G7 and OECD.<\/p>\n

He also said he expects the package of economic measures will boost growth and ultimately increase federal tax revenue, but the budget does not take that into account.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t adjust the forecast for the payback from that investment, and payback there will be. We\u2019re going to realize that over time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ottawa looks to spur private investment with tax breaks, infrastructure spending<\/a><\/p>\n

Conservative MP Michael Chong criticized the budget during Question Period, saying it weakens Canada\u2019s fiscal targets. He also said it will put Canada\u2019s credit rating at risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s saddling younger Canadians with a mountain of national debt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The budget included a plan to find nearly $60-billion over five years, in part by reducing the size of the public service to 40,000 positions below a 2024 peak.<\/p>\n

Sharon DeSousa, Public Service Alliance of Canada national president, said the budget means \u201cdeep cuts\u201d that will hurt service levels in areas such as passports and the Canada Revenue Agency. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce again, it\u2019s working people in this country who will shoulder the burden,\u201d she said in a statement. <\/p>\n

With reports from James Bradshaw, Mark Rendell, Nicolas Van Praet and Emily Haws <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Prime Minister Mark Carney says there is tremendous interest internationally in what Canada…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1397,49,48,44,714],"class_list":{"0":"post-265072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-appwebview","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}