The Liberals say their campaign spending plans will lead to bigger deficits in the years ahead than those projected in the 2024 fall economic statement despite vowing to balance the operating budget by 2028-29.

The party’s campaign platform, released on Saturday, detailed some $127 billion in new investments over the next four years, only partly offset by some $50 billion in new revenue and savings, mostly from retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., harsher penalties for tax cheats and finding efficiencies in the federal bureaucracy.

In the 2024 fall economic statement, the Liberals projected a deficit of $42.2 billion in 2025-26. The deficit was anticipated to fall to $27.8 billion in four years time.

But the Liberals say their campaign commitments will actually lead to significantly larger deficits, hitting around $60 billion in 2025-26, before dropping to $47 billion in 2028-29.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney has committed to separating the country’s fiscal plan into operating and capital budgets if the Liberals win re-election. He said he would balance the operating budget in four years, while making targeted capital investments to help grow the economy and spur private sector investment.

Some of the costlier campaign pledges including $22 billion to cut income taxes, $6 billion to cut developer charges and build housing-enabling infrastructure, around $12 billion for the proposed new Build Canada Homes entity, some $7 billion to help fund major projects and $4 billion for health infrastructure.

More to come…