Trudeau tells ministers it’s time to make big cuts

Justin Trudeau is finally getting serious about cutting spending in Ottawa and has asked his cabinet to shave $15 billion from their current planned expenditures before October 2nd. Here’s what we know about the situation. 

The Globe and Mail obtained a letter from Treasury Board President Anita Anand to her cabinet colleagues informing them of the October 2nd deadline to make big cuts to each of their ministries. 

“I am seeking your support to develop proposals to achieve these targets,” Anand wrote in the letter, adding more details about what ministers should think about cutting. 

“In particular, organizations should review their programming to identify where there might be duplication, programs with lower value for money, or programs that do not address top priorities of the government,” Anand continued. 

Anand went on to explain that whatever the ministers decided to cut needed to ensure that it was sustainable and that any savings made should not impact the government’s ability to deliver services to the country. 

However, there’s a glaring problem with this request for major budget cuts, one that has come at a time when many in the Prime Minister's Cabinet have taken over the reins of new positions after Trudeau hit the reset button on his cabinet. 

Trudeau recently reshuffled his cabinet in an effort to build a leadership team that could deal with the country’s challenges but this means that several ministers in new positions are being asked to make decisions about cuts. 

The Globe and Mail noted that ministers will only have a few weeks to decide on what gets cut before the government needs to begin preparing its 2023 budget. But will that be enough time for new ministers to make tough decisions that could impact you?

Some outside the government seem to think the proposed budget changes are being rushed, chief among them is the President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada Chris Aylward who told CTV News the nature of the plan raised concerns. 

Photo Credit: Twitter @psac_afpc

"It's a very quick timeline, the unions were not consulted on this whatsoever… That is completely the wrong way to go about this," Aylward said.

Conservative Party of Canada Pierre Poilievre would agree with Aylward and he blasted the government over its plan to find savings: "Justin Trudeau will never find savings because he is incompetent with money. He believes budgets balance themselves." 

Poilievre vowed that if he became Prime Minister he would reign in spending through a new law that would require ministers to find one dollar of savings for each dollar that was spent by the government.

"It's something that we could use as a hard discipline, the same discipline that single mothers, or factory workers, or small business owners follow every day managing their money, should be the discipline that we follow," Poilievre said. 

"We're going to balance the budget to bring home lower inflation and lower interest rates,” Poilievere added, though he gave few specifics about his plan to impose discipline. 

New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh is also worried about the budget cuts and said during a press conference he was concerned cuts would be made to a number of essential services and programs according to a report published by the Toronto Star. 

“I’m concerned that in a time when people are already feeling so squeezed that these cuts might mean cuts to things Canadians need, like our health care, like our social services and social safety net,” said Singh. Let’s hope his fears aren’t well-founded.