How budget day unfolded in Ottawa — from budget takeaways to a floor-crossing surprise

1st federal soldier budget of Carney epoch comes in with shortage of nearly $78B

‘We chose Canada’: Champagne’s remarks on federal budget

Why should you care about the federal deficit?

Poilievre: ‘We Conservatives cannot support this costly Liberal budget’

Conservative MP resigns over budget, joins Liberal caucus

Green Party urges Liberals to reach out, doesn't commit to voting for budget

Opposition parties react to federal budget

FULL SPEECH: Finance minister tables Carney government’s 1st budget

Carney says he’d defend budget in an election if necessary

Finance minister sells budget as 'pivotal change in our nation's history'

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne responds to skepticism that his first budget can deliver its claim of $1 trillion in total investment over five years, and defends the value of the budget's $78-billion deficit. Champagne tells MPs from other parties 'to think twice' before deciding not to support the document as it remains unclear where the Liberals will find enough support to pass it.

That’s all from our team this evening. We’ll continue to have more coverage of the Carney government’s budget — including whether or not it actually passes in the House of Commons.

If you’re looking for more details on a particular issue, these stories might be of interest to you:

You can find more coverage at cbc.ca/news or on TikTok.

Climate policy experts are reacting with some relief over the budget and its focus on shoring up industrial carbon pricing, after months of watching climate take a back seat to other pressing issues facing the Carney government, like the trade conflict and affordability.

“I think there are a lot of good signals in this budget. In a world of uncertainty, even confirmation that some really important policies are going to stay and some will be strengthened,” said Rachel Doran, executive director of the Clean Energy Canada think-tank at Simon Fraser University in B.C.

But Doran told me the focus on industry and competitiveness means the government has “failed to connect everyday Canadians with climate action.” She says people should also be able to take advantage of the energy transition through things like lower utility bills and cheaper electric vehicles.

Doran wants to see more details of the government’s new EV strategy, which could be out in the next few weeks. The old plan, which was suspended in September, would have required automakers to sell a certain amount of EVs in Canada.

David Thurton

Alberta premier says she wants clarity on Carney's emission cap stance

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she wants clarity from Prime Minister Mark Carney on whether he would get rid of federal emission caps. She said she was encouraged by what Carney said in Edmonton, only to have his new Environment Minister Terry Duguid say the opposite in a separate interview.

Another one of the big stories coming out of Budget 2025 is the fate of the proposed oil and gas emissions cap.

After months of speculation, the federal government is now signalling its intention to eliminate the cap. But if you read page 108 of the budget carefully, that intention comes with some specific strings attached.

Budget 2025 did not outright say the Trudeau-era climate policy is gone for good, but it did outline specific conditions for its removal.

These are:

The last two points are big ones and largely require buy-in from oil and gas companies and the provincial/ territorial governments who oppose the cap.

The Carney government could be using the future of the cap as leverage in its negotiations on matters such as industrial carbon price.

As Alberta Premier Danielle Smith notably said in June after a meeting with the prime minister and fellow premiers, a grand bargain indeed is to be had.

I’m seeing a strong focus on the industrial carbon pricing system in this budget, which is the single most important part of Canada’s climate plan in terms of driving down emissions.

The Carney government’s plan seems aimed at addressing uncertainty with the price, which experts and industry leaders have told me is the biggest issue in the system. I wrote earlier this year about the issue.

The budget commits to come up with a pricing plan post-2030, giving companies the clarity they need to make investment decisions.

Canada’s industrial carbon price is more than just a tax. It’s a complex system to push heavily emitting industries, like steel, cement, mining and manufacturing, to gradually reduce emissions by adopting new, more energy efficient technologies or switching to renewable energy.

The system also raises money to help companies make that transition.

The budget announced $72 billion in new money for defence, committing to a total of $81.8 billion over five years. Dave Perry, president and CEO of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, welcomed the big boost to military spending.

“This financial commitment is really significant,” Perry told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal, describing the move as “unprecedented” in in recent memory.

Perry said defence spending is more important than ever, pointing to escalating wars around the world and a strained relationship between Canada and the U.S.

“We've relied on them to spend money, to enable our defence in a way that, I think, increasingly we're seeing signs that the United States is no longer prepared to do,” he said.

“So, the world is not as safe as it used to be.”

Though a few Canadians have already competed, and one has even worn the crown (Celine Dion, winning for Switzerland in 1988), Canada has never officially taken part in Eurovision.

A push by Insight Productions for Canada to join in 2022 was dropped due to "the complexity of a Canadian going to Europe and competing."

David Michael Lamb

There aren’t any more details, but it is consistent with the federal government’s broader promise to move away from reliance on the U.S. And toward stronger links with other regions, including Europe.

There were 37 participants in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, including Australia, which joined a decade ago, and Israel, a competitor since the 1970s. So, non-European countries are not unprecedented.

I’ve been sifting through the budget today looking for anything that could help young people navigate a very challenging labour market as they face tremendously high unemployment rates.

The government’s plan includes more investment in skills training and job placement; more support for a summer jobs program; and measures to train people in the trades and in climate-focused sectors.

But the experts I spoke to were a little underwhelmed. One of them said the programs outlined amounted to “small promises” at a critical moment. Another said these programs are mostly a gesture to let youth know they haven’t been forgotten.

You can read more about that in my story here.

The government wants to trim immigration, but remains eager to entice a particular group: international researchers for our universities.

Today's budget proposes up to $1.7 billion for recruiting top prospects from abroad, from doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows to assistant profs who'll teach at Canadian schools.

Some of that money will go toward attracting international scientists and scholars to become Canada Research Chairs, plus funding for the equipment and infrastructure needed for their labs.

It's all being welcomed by U15, a group representing Canada's leading research universities that had previously blasted Ottawa's international student permit caps for creating unpredictability that soured Canada to researchers from abroad searching for new opportunities.

U15 says it approves today's brain-gain strategy "to bring the best and brightest talent to our country."

Canada’s AI minister, explained

Former journalist Evan Solomon is Canada’s first minister of artificial intelligence. His exact mandate is still under wraps, but Canadian AI leaders say there are a few areas his department could tackle first.

Floor-crossing news aside, we wanted to bring you a few more takeaways from today’s budget — including another capital investment under government consideration.

As our colleague Benjamin Lopez Steven wrote, the budget proposes more than $1 billion over the next five years to build up Canada’s artificial intelligence and quantum computing ecosystems.

It also suggests embedding AI technology more deeply in federal government operations.

The budget allocates $925.6 million over the next five years to support a large-scale “sovereign” public AI infrastructure.

According to the budget, $800 million of that investment will come from funds set aside in the last federal budget, which announced a total of $2 billion to boost domestic AI computing capacity and build public supercomputing infrastructure.

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