Ottawa is embarking on a cost-cutting exercise amid ramped-up defence spending and mounting debt, and the talk of town is which sectors could potentially be trimmed down.
The Liberals won the election on a pledge to rebuild the armed forces while at the same time not cutting social programs, and they are now trying to find efficiencies along those lines.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne recently sent letters to cabinet members requesting they put forth “ambitious savings proposals” that would lead to operational spending falling by 7.5 percent for the 2026–27 fiscal year. That would be followed by 10 percent cuts in the following year and 15 percent in 2028–29.
