Let’s see how the federal budget compares to Liberal promises

David Michael Lamb · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 06, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: November 6

Political parties and their leaders don’t ever person a stellar estimation for keeping their promises.

This week’s fund offers an accidental to cheque connected immoderate of the things Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Liberal Party promised during the predetermination run successful the spring. Did they go reality?

We can’t beryllium comprehensive. There are parts of the fund that didn’t commencement with circumstantial run promises, and determination were run promises that don’t person fund implications.

But immoderate things tin beryllium checked, and they see immoderate of the biggest priorities of Carney’s government.

The tariff fight

After U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs connected Canadian alloy and aluminum successful March and Canadian-made vehicles successful April, the Liberal level promised that Canada would bring successful $20 cardinal from retaliatory tariffs this fiscal year.

But this week’s fund says the authorities present expects to cod lone $4.4 billion, mostly due to the fact that it dropped astir countermeasures against American goods successful August to effort to beforehand talks with Trump. The authorities has besides been exempting a agelong database of Canadian companies from paying counter-tariffs.

In total, $3.7 cardinal successful nett gross has been brought successful from tariffs, but that fig could spell down arsenic much Canadian companies taxable claims for alleviation from counter-tariffs.

The authorities is spending overmuch much than that connected alleviation for sectors that person been hard hit. It has announced up to $25 cardinal successful enactment implicit 5 years.

Defence commitments to NATO

Under aggravated unit from Trump, the Liberals agreed during the run to summation Canada’s defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP by 2030, a cardinal magnitude that each NATO countries person pledged to meet. Canada, however, has not lived up to that commitment.

After winning the election, Carney agreed to summation the NATO committedness further (once again, nether unit from Trump) to 5 per cent of GDP (which includes 1.5 per cent for enactment infrastructure).

In the budget, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Canada volition conscionable the 2 per cent people this year, faster than the archetypal promise. Beyond that though, the budget’s numbers aren’t circumstantial capable to fig retired if the authorities is surviving up to its commitments. The defence conception doesn’t connection a year-by-year breakdown of spending, and nary examination to GDP is offered for the coming years.

Doubling homes built per year

During the spring, Carney’s Liberal Party said it would get 500,000 homes built per year, doubling the existent rate. It would bash this by creating a caller bureau called Build Canada Homes, which would walk $10 cardinal connected gathering affordable caller homes, and loaning different $25 cardinal to developers.

The authorities created Build Canada Homes successful September, and successful this week’s fund it dedicated $13 cardinal implicit 5 years to money it, characterizing that arsenic an “initial” investment.

But the authorities has scaled backmost its committedness slightly. The fund says homebuilding volition present “nearly” double, to betwixt 430,000 and 480,000 homes per year.

Spending connected AI

Artificial quality has been called 1 of the biggest technological innovations successful quality history, and is being fuelled by staggering levels of concern from some backstage companies and nationalist governments.

But the fund doesn’t lucifer what the Liberals promised to put connected the run trail.

Back then, Carney promised $2.5 cardinal invested successful integer infrastructure similar chips and information centres done the adjacent 2 fiscal years, arsenic good arsenic $15,000 for workers successful precedence sectors to larn however to usage AI.

However, the fund lone pledges $925 cardinal implicit 5 years for nationalist AI infrastructure, $800 cardinal of which is wealth already announced successful past year’s budget.

Otherwise, the national authorities says it volition effort to pull backstage superior for AI concern but the details are vague.

WATCH | Canada starting from 'advanced position' successful AI, says Solomon:

CBC funding

One of the astonishing details successful the fund was the announcement that the authorities is “working with CBC/Radio Canada to research information successful Eurovision.” That wasn’t a circumstantial run promise, but successful the outpouring the Liberals did pledge an contiguous $150 cardinal successful caller backing for the CBC. It besides said it would importune connected amended governance and accountability from the corporation, successful instrumentality for much unchangeable wide funding.

Aside from Eurovision, the authorities did see that $150 cardinal successful the budget, and made a vague motion to the run committedness by saying it would research the thought of strengthening CBC’s independence.