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National Post

Mark Carney pressed on lack of spring budget in first question period as prime minister

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney was pressed on his government's decision to punt the budget until the fall and his promise to make Canada an 'energy superpower' during his first question period on Wednesday. Article content Article content Interim Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer started by welcoming Carney to his first official question period and reminded him 'this is where we provide rigorous scrutiny on every word he says and every dollar he spends on behalf of Canadians.' Article content 'Now, let's talk about those words and dollars,' he said. Article content Article content Scheer went on to enumerate how he believes Canadians are still suffering from the consequences of Liberal policies — pointing to increased household debt and food bank usage — and asked how a man who promised to act at 'great speed' won't table a budget right away. Article content Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said two weeks ago there would be no federal budget in the spring, but a fall economic statement instead. Days later, Carney announced his government would present a budget during the fall session instead. 'If he's the man with the plan and the guy you hire in a crisis, why won't he table a budget before he goes on summer vacation?' Scheer asked. Article content Carney shot back by saying that Scheer was probably 'very busy' and 'did not have a chance to study closely the 100-day plan' of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre which made no mention of tabling a budget in that timeframe. Article content 'They must be really afraid to come clean with Canadians if they're going to punt it off into the fall,' retorted Scheer. Article content Article content Scheer went on to question Carney on his 'claim that somehow the Liberals have changed' and said he had 'a chance to prove it to Canadians.' 'If he's serious, will he tell Canadians that pipelines are part of his values by repealing Bill C-69?' Article content Ottawa's impact assessment act, also dubbed the 'no pipelines bill' by its critics, came into force in 2019 and has been a hot-button issue ever since. Article content Carney insisted that his 'new government' would act immediately to grow the economy, support 'nation-building projects' and work with provinces to build them. Article content The Conservative opposition went on to question many of his ministers on pipelines and housing — with a particular focus on rookie ministers Tim Hodgson and Gregor Robertson. Article content The prime minister's office confirmed earlier this week that Carney would not be pursuing his predecessor Justin Trudeau's tradition of answering all questions put to the government by the opposition in the House of Commons every Wednesday.