Minister of National Defence David McGuinty leaves a meeting of the National Security Council on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 13, 2025. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick
Defence Minister David McGuinty says he’s not aware of any major spending cuts planned in social programs following a news article saying the finance minister is asking his colleagues to tighten the belt.
A July 7 article by The Globe & Mail says that Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has sent letters to cabinet ministers asking them to cut program spending by 7.5 percent in their departments by the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2026, with the requested cuts increasing to 10 percent for the year after that and 15 percent by 2028–29.
