The platform! Before you compare, remember this: Carney’s is the only fully costed platform on the table. The Conservatives haven’t released one, so stop grading him against a ghost. AND let’s get one other thing straight: this IS a big platform with a big price tag. And thank God for that. Because you can’t fix a broken housing market, rebuild a hollowed-out military, or defend against Trump’s tariffs with budget line edits and a toonie’s worth of duct tape. You have to invest. That’s not reckless, that’s reality.
Every serious businessperson knows you spend to grow. And every serious voter should be asking: Who actually has a plan to grow anything? Only one party has released a full, costed platform. Just one. The rest? They’re waiting in the weeds, ready to take potshots at the numbers — but not bold enough to put out numbers of their own.
So here we are. If you’re going to judge, judge the only plan on the table. The only one that tells you not just what gets built, but what it costs to build it.
Let’s talk military. Mark Carney is putting $31 billion on the table over four years to rebuild, rearm, and actually equip the people we ask to put their lives on the line. New submarines, Arctic patrols, aerial drones, radar systems, and yes, new boots. If you know, you know. (And if you don’t — ask someone who’s served what their toes look like after a winter ruck march.) This isn’t abstract for me. My son is wearing that uniform. And it shouldn’t take a war or a scandal for us to realize he and his peers deserve better than broken barracks and bureaucracy.
Next housing. This plan revives the federal government’s role in construction, with Build Canada Homes leading the charge. It’s the most ambitious housing strategy since the Second World War: 500,000 homes per year, cuts to development fees, revived rental incentives, and bulk pre-fab builds to bring costs down. For those chirping that it’s government overreach… we’re in a market that’s pricing people out of their own cities. Yoga-stretching around the issue won’t build a single roofline. And if you’re wondering why I care? I live in Alberta. I’ve watched a generation of skilled trades get squeezed between rising materials and vanishing margins. My youngest is finishing university and asking the same question so many are: How am I supposed to start my life if I can’t afford to live in it?
And then there is oil and gas. The attacks I get on this one are laughable. Apparently, I hate the industry, despite the fact that my husband has been an O&G consultant for decades. This platform includes infrastructure to bring oil and gas to tidewater, full stop. So let’s stop treating Mark Carney like he’s the Grim Reaper of pipelines. He’s proposing energy corridors that include oil, natural gas, renewables, transmission lines, and yes, critical minerals. It’s a pragmatic, 21st-century approach — not a fantasyland of slogans and rage memes.
Now, the fiscal plan. Here’s what matters: Capital investment is prioritized. Homes, roads, ports, factories, military equipment, all in. Public service is capped, not gutted. EI payments come faster, digital services improve, and you stop getting bounced between five departments like it’s a bureaucratic game of pinball. Debt-to-GDP goes down. Operating balance by 2028. Child care, pharmacare, and dental care stay. The math is there, and so is the discipline. This is not reckless. This is nation-building. This is the kind of spending you do when you want your country to survive a hostile global economy (oh should I mention Trump here) with a bit more than a smile and a spreadsheet.
And yet, this week, you’ll hear the opposite. You’ll see ads calling this plan “dangerous.” You’ll see bots shrieking “tax hike!” without a calculator in sight. You’ll see TikToks from the same folks who haven’t released a single costed proposal and whose entire pitch so far could be summed up as “shut it all down.”
So here’s my final word: I don’t post because I’m trying to win arguments. I post because I believe people deserve real information. I’ve been attacked for allegedly not caring about the next generation of homebuyers, meanwhile I’m watching my son try to rent a closet for the price of a mortgage. I’ve been attacked for not caring about oil and gas while living with a man who’s consulted in that field longer than most of these critics have had a driver’s license. If you care about this country, you pay attention. If you care about the people in it, you ask questions. And if you care about your future, you demand answers that come with a cost estimate, not just a catchphrase.
Because in politics, like in finance, anyone promising you everything for nothing isn’t making a budget. They’re making a scam look patriotic.
Nancy's Notes 