Poilievre to Carney: cut spending, scrap fuel taxes — or own the biggest deficit since COVID

The demands

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is pushing the federal government to eliminate all federal taxes on diesel until Canada Day, part of a list of demands ahead of the budget being tabled on November 5, The Canadian Press reported. In a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, Poilievre says suspending the GST on fuel until summer and permanently scrapping the fuel standard tax would save Canadians money whether they are buying groceries or toys for Christmas. The letter also calls on the Liberal government to cut what Poilievre calls wasteful and inflationary spending and to fulfil its promises to reduce both the debt-to-GDP ratio and the deficit-to-GDP ratio.

The fiscal backdrop

The Parliamentary Budget Officer has predicted that the government will not meet its fiscal anchor of maintaining a declining deficit-to-GDP ratio, The Canadian Press reported; instead, the office expects the measure to rise in 2027-28 and 2029-30. The office also expects a $63.3-billion deficit in fiscal 2026-27, down from a forecast of $71.8 billion in its June outlook, with annual deficits 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. "You promised affordability. Yet everything is more expensive since you took office," the letter says, adding that while the prime minister cannot control things outside Canada, "your decisions at home have only made things worse."

The government's line

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has said the budget will "outline the next steps in our plan to build a stronger, more resilient and more affordable Canada," The Canadian Press reported. The exchange sets up the budget as a direct contest over affordability: the Conservatives frame fuel taxes and spending as costs passed to households, while the government argues its plan builds resilience against tariffs and a slowing economy. What to watch on November 5: whether the budget touches fuel taxes at all, and whether its deficit path matches or breaks the Parliamentary Budget Officer's projections.