Liberals Defeated by Opposition Parties in Vote Asking for Spring Budget

Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen, now the government whip, makes his way to a Liberal Party caucus meeting in West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Jan. 8, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

A majority of MPs in the House of Commons have asked the government to table a budget or economic update this spring, in a first vote of significance lost by the minority Liberals.

The vote took place on June 2, with 166 in favour and 164 opposed. Budgets are typically released in the spring, but the new government said it would be delayed until the fall.

The result of the vote is non-binding, a fact highlighted by cabinet ministers who commented on the matter. The vote was on amending the House of Commons’ reply to King Charles III and his speech from the throne delivered on May 27, which outlined the government’s agenda for the parliamentary session.

The vote came about with the Conservatives proposing an amendment to the address in reply, requesting the government provide a “firm commitment” to present an economic update or budget prior to Parliament’s summer adjournment.

The Bloc and NDP added language on Quebec and indigenous peoples, with the final text reading that the budget or update should incorporate “measures aimed at unleashing Canada’s economic potential, including full accountability of Canada’s finances, with respect for the areas of jurisdiction and the institutions of Quebec and the provinces, as well as Indigenous peoples.”

A total of 166 MPs from the Conservatives, Bloc Québécois, New Democrats, and the Green Party voted in favour of the amendment, while 164 Liberals voted against. Four Liberal MPs, three Conservative MPs, and one Bloc MP “paired” their votes, meaning they made arrangements with opposing parties to abstain from voting so that the overall outcome of the vote would not be impacted by their absences.

Liberal MPs said they’re not concerned about the vote result when speaking to reporters before a cabinet meeting on June 3.

“We knew the outcome of what that vote was going to be,” said Chief Government Whip Mark Gerretsen. “We have 169 members, one is the Speaker, and we had four people paired. It’s 100 percent efficiency in terms of our vote turnout yesterday.”

Government House leader Steven MacKinnon noted that the vote was non-binding and said “I suspect you’re going to see a lot more of them.” He added that the vote that really matters is the confidence motion on adopting the throne speech, set for June 4.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser said the Liberals were in “new territory” with a minority government with a “very thin margin depending on which parties may side with the government or one another on any given vote.”

“I try not to bake feelings into these things,” he said when asked about how he feels about the result. “They’re math challenges, not problems with feelings. But we have to make sure that we do the work necessary to try to collaborate with parties across the aisle in order to implement the mandate that Canadians have given us.”

Opposition House leader Andrew Scheer said the motion called for the Liberal government to give Canadians a “full accounting” of the government’s finances.

“How much bigger will the deficit be? How much will that cost taxpayers? Who’s getting rich off government contracts? Canadians have a right to know,” he said in a social media post following the vote.

The government is not obligated to present a budget prior to the summer and has said it will postpone the issuance of such a document until the fall.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said on May 14 the government would table a Fall Economic Statement after the summer break.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the timeline, saying that failing to deliver a budget this year would send a “bad signal” to investors and credit ratings agencies.

Carney announced the following week that the government would deliver a budget this fall after holding in-depth discussions with the United States and attending the upcoming NATO summit, saying the government needs “greater clarity” on both fronts before presenting the document.

The Liberals’ costed platform released during the election campaign called for $129 billion in new spending over the next four years. It said increased defence spending would cost $18 billion, and new housing initiatives would cost $11.8 billion over that time period. It also indicated that a middle class tax cut and scrapping of the capital gains tax expansion would remove $22 billion and $12.5 billion from government revenues, respectively.

Carney told reporters on April 21 that the platform signalled a “fundamentally different approach” to respond to U.S. tariffs, which he labelled “the worst crisis of our lifetimes.”

The credit rating agency FitchRatings has said the Liberals’ spending promises made during the election campaign would “exacerbate already expanding fiscal deficits” and put pressure on Canada’s credit profile, while potentially increasing its 2025 deficit by 0.4 percent of GDP and 2026 deficit by 0.8 percent of GDP.

Canada’s federal debt rose to $1.27 trillion from the 2023 to 2024 fiscal year, according to a recent Finance Department report, giving it a debt-to-GDP ratio of more than 110 percent.

While no budget is being tabled this spring, Ottawa released its Main Estimates for fiscal 2025-26, which outline government expenditures. The estimates show a spending increase of 8 percent over the previous year.