So, that was the “generational” budget, which is cutting away at the civil service, and claiming “efficiencies” in most government departments (though a few defence and security related departments, as well as Indigenous Services only faced a two percent cut), while there are plenty of those investments for resource projects. The “climate competitiveness” strategy is promising to remove the emissions cap if provinces and industry can get other things like methane emissions reductions and carbon capture implemented at scale, but considering the latter isn’t cost-effective without a sufficiently high carbon price, I’m guessing that’s going to wind up failing (and no, there is “grand bargain” because Alberta and the industry won’t respect it). The deficit is at $78 billion, which is actually smaller than Stephen Harper’s $55.6 billion deficit in 2009-10 if you adjust for today’s dollars.

Here are some highlight stories, starting with some key numbers:

• A $2 billion “critical minerals sovereign fund” that can include equity stakes
• A suite of new tax measures designed to help compete with the US
• $73 billion for national defence by the end of the decade, but there are few details about how it will all happen..
• Slashing temporary immigration numbers and freezing permanent resident intake (because that’ll help with labour shortages)
• $150 million more for CBC, and “exploring” participation in Eurovision.
• Using buying power to spur the development of data centres without actually funding those projects (because it’s likely a bubble).
• Moving ahead with regulating stablecoins.
• Oversight over open banking was moved from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada to the Bank of Canada.
• Ending investment transfer fees to encourage more banking competition.
• $2.7 billion in cuts to foreign aid over four years (as the destruction of USAID has created a massive need for foreign aid, so well done there).
• Research and Development tax incentives aren’t limited to Canadian-owned firms.
• They lifted the tax on luxury yachts and on foreign-owned vacation homes.
• Weakening the laws around greenwashing, because of course they are.
• Establishing sovereign space-lift capabilities.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-04T21:31:12.741Z

The seemingly outsized cuts to Global Affairs Canada in Budget 2025 are hard to square with the government’s repeated call to expand and deepen Canada's international partnerships. Reinvesting in the military is welcome – but defence is just one tool of our international policy.

— Roland Paris (@rolandparis.bsky.social) 2025-11-04T22:00:30.407Z

https://bsky.app/profile/plagasse.bsky.social/post/3m4tnilpugk2j

We're cutting $s to low-income 18 year-olds to access education, but we still have half a billion a year to make student loans interest-free for early-career 20-somethings "to help with the rent" AS DUMB AS A BAG OF HAMMERS.

— Alex Usher (@alexusherhesa.bsky.social) 2025-11-04T23:47:10.318Z

Staring at Canada's own gender-based analysis of its budget. Give you one guess at the main beneficiary of all the major spending investments….

— Lauren Dobson-Hughes (@ldobsonhughes.bsky.social) 2025-11-05T01:09:27.537Z

In pundit reaction, Heather Scoffield has a quick overview of some of the tax and investment measures. Mike Moffatt is sorely disappointed in just how little there was for the housing crisis in the budget, particularly as it puts too much focus on reducing immigration. Justin Ling notes the corporate tax cuts, and the fact that the budget doesn’t acknowledge the short-term problems associated with Trump’s gangster economics. Kevin Carmichael considers this a hybrid of Harper and Trudeau’s budgets, which winds up missing the mark as a result. Paul Wells remarks on some of the political considerations in the budget that is geared to investment when business hasn’t been keen to do so, and that there is a whole lot of downside in the budget, some of which is the fact that our chronic weaknesses of low productivity and internal barriers are an even bigger problem than they were before. Susan Delacourt says the budget misses the mark, being too vague in where the cuts will come from, and does a poor job in telling its story.

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2025-11-04T22:22:02.466Z

Floor-crossing

In amidst budget being delivered, Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont went on record with Politico that he was considering crossing the floor to the Liberals, and my immediate thought was that there was some residual bitterness because he was forbidden from running to be Speaker, and to be put forward as Deputy Speaker once Francis Scarpaleggia had been voted in. But he has also seemed dejected when I’ve seen him in the Chamber of late, never wearing a tie, not participating in anything. Once this was public, I heard from a source that there was screaming happening in the opposition lobby outside of the House of Commons. d’Entremont quickly resigned from caucus, and within an hour, had formally crossed to the Liberals, who were happy to have him, particularly because he’s an affable Red Tory, and it doesn’t hurt that this completes the Liberals’ sweep of Nova Scotia. The Conservatives later put out a bitter statement (and by contrast, when Leona Allslev crossed from the Liberals to the Conservatives, Justin Trudeau wished her well). This means that the Liberals only need two more votes or abstentions to get their budget through, so we’ll see what that looks like in the days ahead.

Ukraine Dispatch

The fighting continues in Pokrovsk, while Ukraine struck another oil refinery, this one east of Moscow. President Zelenskyy says the European Commission’s latest report shows Ukraine is “confidently moving” toward EU membership.

Good reads:

• Sean Fraser is dismissing calls to use the Notwithstanding Clause to override Friday’s Supreme Court of Canada decision (as he should).
• China is resuming allowing group tourism to Canada.
• A former executive from Deep Sky, which aims to remove carbon from the air, says their technology is too slow and costly to be used at scale.
• The Quebec government is backing down on payment reform for doctors after they started applying for jobs in Ontario en masse.
• The Yukon Party won the territorial election, with new premier Currie Dixon. There was also a non-binding plebiscite to move toward ranked ballots.
• Here is a look at who has been donating to the UCP now that Alberta lifted the restrictions on corporate donations.

Odds and ends:

Rest assured, the NDP will take *all* of the wrong lessons from this, and be absolutely cringey in trying to replicate Mamdani for the next five years and wonder why it won't work for them.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-05T04:06:05.403Z

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