Minister Anand Addresses Report That Cabinet Was Told to Cut $15B From Spending

President of the Treasury Board Anita Anand, left, looks on as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland speaks to reporters during the Liberal Cabinet retreat in Charlottetown on Aug. 22, 2023. Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press

The Liberal government clarified that what was initially reported as a $15 billion cut to its spending plans is actually just a repurposing of taxpayer dollars.

“Recently, I asked all my ministerial colleagues to ensure that they were examining their respective portfolios so that we can deliver a budget commitment of this year’s budget for $15 billion over five years in refocused spending,” Treasury Board President Anita Anand told reporters on Aug. 22.

The Globe and Mail reported on Aug. 15 that Ms. Anand had written a letter to her colleagues asking them to find areas of possible cuts from existing spending plans.

Ms. Anand wrote the letter shortly after being shuffled out of the defence portfolio on July 26. She reportedly gave her colleagues an Oct. 2 deadline to come up with proposed cuts.

The minister stressed that her government is not reducing spending, but changing direction with regards to money originally geared toward dealing with issues like COVID-19.

“That’s how I would like us to understand the request to my colleagues and their respective ministries, that we are really refocusing our spending from pandemic type spending to the broader economic priorities of our country,” Ms. Anand said.

She identified those priorities as healthcare, dental care, the Canada Child Benefit, and $10-a- day child care. Ms. Anand said she would bring fiscal prudence to the portfolio in order to deliver on these “very large priorities.”

Her request was something already planned in Budget 2023 and does not represent a shift for the Liberals, as pointed out by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who stood alongside her during media availability outside the Liberal cabinet retreat in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

“When it comes to the $15 billion in repurposed spending, this is not news,” remarked Ms. Freeland. She said the commitment “underpins the entire fiscal forecast that the budget was based on.”

“We believe government has an important role to play in supporting Canadians, in building a social welfare net that supports Canadians, and in putting in place programs that help our economy to grow.”

Ms. Freeland oversaw a $43 billion deficit for fiscal year 2022-2023 and her latest budget predicts a $40.1 billion shortfall by March 2024. The Liberals do not have a plan to balance the books.

A think tank recently put government spending of taxpayer dollars in perspective, finding that Canadians spend more on taxes than all other basic necessities.

The Fraser Institute says in a report that Canadians’ tax bill has increased 2,778 percent from 1961 to 2022, greatly outpacing the Consumer Price Index (863 percent) used to measure inflation.