From Yakk Stack

Sheldon Yakiwchuk

Advanced Polling in effect, lineups at the polls longer than ever witnessed in Canadian History, it’s only Today that Mark Carney and the Liberals have unleashed the furry of their Economic Pathway for Canadians…

No Balanced Budget until 2045?
AYFKM?

This is literally worse than imagining that the Budget will Balance Itself!

And…

From an Economist?

I mean…

By now, Canadians are used to watching Liberal leaders toss around billions as if Monopoly money flows from the Peace Tower. But Mark Carney, the supposed “grown-up in the room,” has just shattered any illusion that he’s the responsible one at the table.

In the latest Liberal platform rollout, Carney promised nearly $130 billion in new measures over four years — a move that, when combined with existing spending plans, adds a jaw-dropping $225 billion to Canada’s already ballooning federal debt. This isn’t just imprudent — it’s economic malpractice.

And let’s not forget, this isn’t coming from a part-time drama teacher. This is Mark Carney — the former Governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England. A man who, on paper, should understand that debt and deficits aren’t abstract theories, but real burdens passed on to future generations. Yet here he is, throwing fiscal caution to the wind with more reckless abandon than Justin Trudeau ever managed with his “sunny ways.”

A Dangerous Dose of Delusion

Carney called this platform “prudent with people’s hard-earned tax dollars” — as if adding a quarter-trillion dollars to the national debt is the new definition of restraint.

One of the marquee pledges? A 1% cut to the lowest federal tax bracket, dropping it from 15% to 14%. While that sounds like a modest win for working Canadians, the real cost is anything but: $22 billion over four years — paid for with borrowed money. It’s a shiny giveaway wrapped in fiscal irresponsibility.

On the defense front, the Liberals now want to increase military spending by $18 billion, finally waking up to global threats after years of neglect. This includes everything from raises and housing for CAF members to long-overdue modernization and recruitment reforms — noble goals, no doubt, but late and politically motivated. The Liberals have ignored defense for a decade, but now that NATO is watching and war is trending, they’re throwing money at the problem and hoping no one notices the hypocrisy.

Worse Than Trudeau?

Let’s be clear: Justin Trudeau’s time in office saw deficits explode, services falter, and fiscal anchors snapped like twigs. But Trudeau never claimed to be an economist. Carney does — and that makes this all the more damning.

This is not the cool-headed central banker Canadians were promised. This is a politician trying to outspend Trudeau in an election year, cloaking vote-buying in economic jargon and calling it “vision.”

The Bottom Line

Carney’s plan is not a blueprint for prosperity — it’s a roadmap to fiscal ruin. If Trudeau was the wide-eyed idealist who believed budgets balanced themselves, Carney is the cold, calculated number-cruncher who knows they don’t… and spends anyway.

Canada doesn’t need another “visionary” with a blank cheque. It needs leadership with a grip on reality — and a respect for taxpayers that goes beyond pandering soundbites.

Because if this is what “responsible” leadership looks like, we’re in deeper trouble than we thought.

From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By Maureen McCall

Ottawa’s Clean Electricity Regulations could derail Canada’s energy future. Here’s what we need to do

The federal government’s push to make Canada’s electricity system net-zero is running straight into reality—and it’s not pretty.

Through the Clean Electricity Regulations (CER), the government wants all provinces to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation by 2035. It is an ambitious goal, but one that ignores a basic fact: demand for electricity is exploding, and provinces are struggling to keep up.

New technologies like artificial intelligence are supercharging this demand. AI systems, including tools such as ChatGPT, rely on massive data centres—huge warehouses of computer servers that need constant cooling and enormous amounts of electricity to function. According to a recent Royal Bank of Canada report, if all proposed data centre projects in Canada move ahead, they would consume 14 per cent of the country’s entire electricity supply by 2030. That is roughly the same as projections in the United States, where data centres are expected to use up to 15 per cent of the national total.

This is a serious problem. Provinces such as Alberta and Saskatchewan have already raised the alarm, arguing that the federal regulations overstep Ottawa’s constitutional authority. Energy supply, like natural resources, has traditionally been under provincial control. Alberta and Ontario operate their own electricity markets to attract investment and ensure reliability. Federal regulations threaten to undermine these efforts, adding risk and driving up costs.

The situation is already tense. Alberta, for example, issued multiple grid alerts in 2024 due to shortages and market disruptions. The province is now looking at “behind-the-fence” power solutions, encouraging data centres to generate their own electricity to guarantee stability.

Canada was not always in this bind. For decades, we enjoyed an abundance of clean, affordable hydroelectric power. Provinces like Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador built massive hydro projects starting in the 1960s, creating cheap power and even surpluses to export to U.S. markets. In 2022, for example, B.C. sent 74 per cent of its exported power to the U.S., while Quebec sent 63 per cent and Ontario an impressive 81 per cent, generating billions in revenue.

But that era is coming to an end. Most of the best sites for hydro dams have already been developed. New projects would require expensive, long-distance transmission lines to bring power from remote areas to the cities that need it. On top of that, growing environmental concerns make new dam construction an uphill battle.

The truth is, there is no quick fix. A 2025 study by the Fraser Institute paints a grim picture: to meet future electricity demand solely with solar power would require 1,680 years of construction. Wind power? About 1,150 years. Even hydro would take close to a millennium. Even if we combined these sources, we are still looking at more than 1,000 years to build enough capacity.

Meanwhile, federal projections estimate that Canada’s electricity demand will double by 2050.

Without significant policy changes, Canadians could soon face the worst of both worlds: soaring electricity bills and the threat of power shortages. Our economy could also suffer as companies and data centres look to other jurisdictions with more reliable power supplies.

So what should Canada do? Here are three practical steps:

1. Scrap the Clean Electricity Regulations. Provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan are already committed to reaching net-zero by 2050. Federal interference only creates unnecessary political battles and delays investments.
2. Fast-track approvals for new interprovincial transmission lines. Today, building a new transmission line can take more than a decade. Speeding up this process would help provinces share power and avoid costly overbuilding of generation capacity.
3. Launch a major low-interest loan program to build new power infrastructure. We need to dramatically expand our generation and transmission systems, including natural gas-fired plants, to meet future demand.

Canadians deserve a reliable, affordable and clean energy future. But we will not get there by ignoring the realities of rising demand and provincial responsibilities. It is time for the federal government to listen to the provinces, embrace practical solutions and avoid an avoidable crisis.

Otherwise, we are on track for blackouts, higher bills and missed economic opportunities.

Maureen McCall is an energy business analyst and Fellow at the Frontier Center for Public Policy. She writes on energy issues for EnergyNow and the BOE Report. She has 20 years of experience as a business analyst for national and international energy companies in Canada.