Mark Carney and the Liberals Announcements Total Over $3.5 Billion in Spending in the Past Four Days!

OTTAWA – MARCH 22, 2025 – With a federal election expected to be officially called as early as Sunday, March 23, the Liberal government, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, has launched a rapid-fire series of funding announcements totalling more than $3.5 billion over the past four days.

The blitz of announcements is being viewed by political observers as a clear sign that Canada is heading to the polls, with the governing Liberals seeking to shore up support ahead of what is expected to be a tightly contested campaign.

Ottawa Flooded With Pre-Election Announcements

Since March 18, cabinet ministers and Liberal MPs have been criss-crossing the country, unveiling high-profile investments in areas like housing affordability, healthcare innovation, clean energy, and infrastructure renewal.

The announcements include:

• $1.2 billion for affordable housing projects in major urban centres
• $750 million for clean technology innovation and green job creation
• $500 million for Indigenous healthcare and mental health supports
• $600 million to upgrade critical infrastructure in flood- and wildfire-prone regions
• $450 million for pharmacare and primary care pilot programs

While none of these announcements are officially tied to an election campaign, the timing—just days before a writ drop—has not gone unnoticed.

Opposition Slams Liberals for ‘Campaigning on the Public Dime’

Opposition parties were quick to criticize the wave of funding commitments, accusing the Liberals of using taxpayer dollars to launch a de facto campaign before Parliament is officially dissolved.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in looking at the Liberal spending spree states, “This is the lost Liberal decade. It is a resulted in the worst decline in our country’s economy. In 40 years, it has made us helplessly dependent on the Americans by blocking resource projects and sending billions of dollars of discounted resources for the Americans to profit off our backs.

“Now, the Liberals claim that if you elect them for a fourth term, that they will be different than the first three terms. Well, we know that that’s not true. The only way to get a change is by putting Canada first, by electing a new Conservative government that will axe taxes, build homes, unleash resources, and bring home our jobs and economic sovereignty from the Americans.

“That’s why I’m announcing today part of my bring at home economic plan. It’s called Boots, not Suits. This plan will bring home a country that works for the people who do the work,” adds Poilievre. “And here’s the plan. First, we will reinstate the $4,000 apprenticeship grant to help our young apprentices with the cost of training up. This is a grant the previous Conservative government brought in, and the current Liberal government had planned to phase out at the end of this month”.

“Well, I’m here to announce that my government will reinstate it to give direct financial support to young apprentices. I’m going to be bringing it back and putting the money in their pockets. Second, Conservatives will provide funds to union training halls like this one for machines, bricks, mortar, walls, floors, all of the above. With the goal of training 350,000 apprentices and other trades workers over the next five years, we’ll make sure that actual buildings and centers are eligible that they get this UTIP funding. The smaller unions and locals will also be eligible and they’ll be eligible for up to 75% of the cost of building and running these programs”.

“Third, we’ll create a special rapid class of EI that makes it easier for tradespeople to get the money that they are owed from EI while they do their training. Right now, they have to wait weeks on end without any money coming in as they’re training up, and that puts them in a tough spot paying the rent. My government will ensure tradespeople are not punished for training and will do this by allowing the union training halls to register the apprentices for EI. So it’ll allow you guys to register them, get them started, and that way when they join the program, their EI is ready to go. They’ve got money in their pocket and food in their fridge. Fourth, we’ll work with the provinces to harmonize the health and safety regulations so our trade workers can go anywhere. Right now, believe it or not, a trades worker who goes across the country has to redo the four day health and safety program.

“I’m going to bring the provinces and their labour ministers together to harmonize and get mutual recognition. So if you’ve got the health and safety ticket in one province, your are recognized to work in all the provinces. This is common sense, and we’re going to pay for all this by cutting bureaucracy, consultants, foreign aid and waste. Like I said, more boots, less suits. After 10 years of the Trudeau Carney Liberals, Canada’s economy is weaker and more and reliant than ever, and we’ve lost a half trillion dollars because of the high taxes. Here, Mr. Carney supported carbon taxes on Canada while he invested in American coal”.

Poilievre charges, “He opposed the Northern Gateway pipeline in Canada while he bought pipelines abroad. Yesterday, his newly appointed environment minister reaffirmed that the Carney Liberal government will impose an energy production cap, which the parliamentary budget officer just confirmed will cost 50,000 jobs. This proves that Carney is still faithful to his radical, keep it in the ground, net zero insanity. Nothing will change, in fact, it will get worse. And that will be good for rich global elites like him and the multinational corporations that profit off of Canada’s weakness. We know that Mr. Carney’s company abuses workers. They bust unions. They invested in companies that busted unions. He also, in a very tragic case, one of the insurance arm of Carney’s company, Brookfield profited by denying the insurance claims of coal miners dying from black lung. These are workers who by breathing in dust in the ground, became extremely sick, and they went to get the insurance that they had paid for.”

“They were denied by Carney’s, the company that does the insurance for Brookfield. They profited off that. In fact, this company lost in court. The court found that the company was wrong. Now, Mr. Carney needs to tell us, is he still invested in a company that abuses workers’ rights and denies coal miners and their widows the benefits that they deserve? Mark Carney will never stand up for the working people. He will only stand up for the millionaire and billionaire global elites. That is all that he has ever done. He’s only done two things in Canada since he came back from Europe. One, move his headquarters out of Canada to New York, taking jobs from our country to the United States just like Trump wanted. And two, acting as Trudeau’s economic advisor supporting all of his policies. No matter what he tries to tell you now. But just wait. You’ll see.

“He’ll be copying my next announcement. It will be what? About three or four days. He’ll be ripping off the announcement that I made today as he pretends to support the things that I stand for 30 days before an election. The choice in the next election is very clear. One is to bring jobs home. The other is to ship jobs abroad. One is to bring real change. The other is to clinging on the power for a fourth consecutive term. One is to cut taxes and the other is to raise them. One puts Canada first. The other puts Carney first. And the question in the next election will be further, can Canada afford a fourth term of the Liberals led by Mark Carney, who working with Trudeau made Canada weaker and poorer and is too weak and conflicted to stand up to Donald Trump? Or do we think it’s time for a real change with a Conservative government that will stand up to Trump from a position of strength, unleash growth, bring home jobs, axe taxes, build homes, secure our border, rebuild our military, and put Canada first.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh expressed concern that the announcements lacked long-term vision: “Investing in housing and health is important, but we need structural change, not pre-election photo ops,” he said.

Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario Could See Local Impacts

While much of the funding is directed at national or provincial-scale projects, communities in Thunder Bay and across Northwestern Ontario could see tangible benefits—particularly from the affordable housing and Indigenous healthcare components of the spending blitz.

However the major shipbuilding contract that was touted for Heddle Shipyards has hit an iceberg as the company is not going to receive any of the work.

Municipal leaders and local First Nations have long advocated for federal investments in supportive housing, addiction treatment, and healthcare infrastructure in Northern Ontario. If these funds flow quickly, they could address critical gaps—though many remain skeptical of the government’s ability to follow through once the campaign begins.

“We welcome the announcements, but we’ve seen promises come and go,” said one Thunder Bay housing advocate. “It’s action we’re looking for—not headlines.”

Writ Expected March 23, Campaign Likely Underway Next Week

Multiple sources in Ottawa have confirmed that Prime Minister Carney is preparing to visit the Governor General on Sunday, March 23, to formally request the dissolution of Parliament, triggering Canada’s next general election.

If that occurs, Canadians could be heading to the polls by late April or early May, with the Liberals seeking a renewed mandate and opposition parties aiming to capitalize on public fatigue after three terms of Liberal rule.