Peace River MP urges caution over budget promises: ‘Delivering is a challenge for them’

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies MP Bob Zimmer says he doubts Liberals’ ability to deliver on promises made in the budget presented on Tuesday.

Pledges related to the north in the budget include a $1-billion Arctic infrastructure fund and a major review of northern healthcare.

Zimmer, who is also Conservative shadow minister for Arctic affairs, said Liberal governments have been slow to deliver on promises made over the past decade.

He cited incidents like the purchase of a hangar in Inuvik for military purposes, the delay in completing Inuvik’s runway extension and federal handling of the decades-long Giant Mine Remediation Project.

In the case of the hangar, the Canadian government purchased it in 2024 after initially cancelling its lease for the facility in 2021.

The hangar had been used to store military aircraft but officials decided it was no longer needed.

In 2023, The Globe and Mail reported the United States had concerns the hangar could end up in the hands of a Chinese buyer. By July 2024, the federal government had bought it.

“These guys can make a lot of promises, but delivering on those promises is a challenge often for them,” said Zimmer, referring to the Liberal Party.

Zimmer expressed concern about the budget’s projected deficit of $78.3 billion in the 2025-26 financial year, up from the $48.3 billion predicted for 2024-25 in last year’s fall economic statement.

He said that could contribute to inflation, making life more expensive, especially for those living in the north.

“The budget sounds good in many ways, but it’s still a pretty high-spending budget,” Zimmer said.

To cut some of the costs predicted in the budget, Zimmer said he would like to see less spending on things like consultants.

He pointed to the Giant Mine Remediation Project, for which consultation costs rose by $96.6 million between an initial estimate in 2010 and an updated estimate presented in 2022. That figure includes a community benefits fund of up to $20 million agreed with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation in 2021.

“Some of this stuff, they could easily sharpen their pencil a little bit,” said Zimmer.

He also wants Ottawa to review foreign spending. The budget presented this week proposes to increase spending abroad in some areas but reduce it in others.

For example, the budget references $6.2 billion over five years to expand Canada’s defence partnerships, including more military assistance to Ukraine. However, it also references “reductions in development funding to global health programming, where Canada’s contribution has grown disproportionately relative to other similar economies.”

Zimmer said the Conservative caucus is united in opposing the budget, and that Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont crossing party lines to join the Liberal caucus late Tuesday amounted to nothing more than a “personal issue.”

“I don’t think Canadians are ready for an election quite yet, so we’re going to continue to try to work on things that we can work on. But things like this, the budget, it’s just too much to sign on to for us,” said Zimmer.

“Had [Prime Minister Mark] Carney really wanted our support, he could have come and talked to us and said, ‘look, what can we do to help have you help us pass the budget?’ But I don’t believe that conversation ever happened.”

Zimmer said a conversation was had between Carney and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in the past few weeks, when Poilievre visited the PM’s office.

“I remember Pierre’s comments coming after that didn’t sound very confident that we were going to get an agreement with them, but that is probably the extent, as far as it went, in terms of us having conversations across the aisle,” said Zimmer.

As things stand, the Liberal minority government will require cooperation from members of at least one other party to pass the budget in a vote expected on November 17th.