To chop spending, Ottawa will cut science, tourism, foreign aid programs
Global News
While 40 departments will collectively spend $23 billion more next year, another 85 departments will spend $31 billion less in 2026-27.
The federal government has tabled details of how it plans to cut billions of dollars from programs that support science, tourism, harbour improvements, journalism, foreign aid, and even the development of a Canadian-made lunar rover module.
The cuts are detailed in hundreds of pages of departmental plans tabled in the House of Commons last Friday as MPs were preparing to return to their ridings for March break week.
Global News has analyzed the departmental plans of more than 80 federal government departments and agencies, as well as the government’s 2026-27 spending plan that was tabled in the House on March 3.
Together, those sets of documents paint a picture of a Carney government that has clearly set significantly different spending priorities from its predecessor, with a heavy focus on national defence — year-over-year defence spending will jump nearly 12 per cent, or $5.3 billion — while dialling back spending on health, the environment and funding for regional economic development.
“We need to be ambitious in our investments and rigorous in our spending,” Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said as he tabled the 2026-27 budget on Nov. 4, 2025.
“That is why this budget charts a new course for Canada’s public finances. Canadians expect their government to achieve results. To get there, we must spend less on operations so we can invest more in Canada’s future.”
The spending plan, known in Parliament as the main estimates, shows that 85 departments will collectively receive about $31 billion less in the fiscal year that begins April 1 relative to the spending levels already approved for the current fiscal year.
Meanwhile, about 40 departments will collectively see their spending budgets jump by about $23 billion in 2026-27.
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