By Wa Lone
TORONTO (Reuters) -Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s campaign platform plans released on Saturday include tax cuts and new spending on infrastructure and defense, as he pledges a new economic order that is less reliant on the United States.
Carney has campaigned on his experience managing crises while running the central bank of Canada during the 2008 financial crisis and that of Britain during Brexit. He often says he is the best person to stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump, who has imposed tariffs on Canada and threatened to annex the country.
“We’re in an enormous crisis, so we have to be able to do two things. One, hold down on that wasteful spending, which we will do, but much more than that, we need to be bold and drive investment in the economy and take the amazing opportunities we have,” Carney said at a press conference.
Carney has also aimed to distance himself from predecessor Justin Trudeau by promising a leaner government.
Carney’s plan would push the federal government’s deficit to 1.96% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the 2025-26 fiscal year, down to 1.83% of GDP the following year, and to 1.35% by 2028-29, the platform says.
Trudeau’s government had last forecast a deficit of 1.6% of GDP for the previous fiscal year that ended in March.
Carney plans to break up spending into operating and capital spending, which would be new in Canada.
Carney told the press conference government spending had been growing by around 9% every year and his government would bring that rate of spending growth to around 2% without cutting any transfers to provinces, territories or individuals.
He promised to balance the operating budget over the next three years.
“Our plan gets government spending under control because the government has been spending too much and Canada has been investing too little,” Carney said.
Carney plans to increase defense spending to exceed a NATO target of 2% of GDP and said Canada would invest in transatlantic security with “like minded” European partners.
(Reporting by Wa Lone; Writing by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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