Ottawa ends pandemic programs, shifts priorities in $449B spending plan

The federal government’s spending priorities are shifting dramatically in the next fiscal year as federal programs put in place during or after the pandemic wind down and the government looks to trim costs across a variety of departments.

The budgetary shift out of pandemic mode is most evident at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), which is asking parliamentary approval to spend 63 per cent less next year than it is expected to spend in the fiscal year that ends on March 31. PHAC’s spending reduction is the largest relative reduction in planned spending among all government organizations.

PHAC is expected to spend more than $5 billion this year but has asked Parliament for authority to spend just $1.9 billion next year — a $3.6 billion drop. PHAC says in its departmental plan that it no longer needs to spend as much as it has in the last two years on COVID vaccines and COVID mental health support programs, although it is now returning spending on items like influenza vaccines to pre-pandemic levels.

But despite the shift away from expensive pandemic programs, overall spending in 2024-2025 is anticipated to jump at least 16 per cent to $449-billion. When the Trudeau government took office in 2015, overall government spending in that fiscal year was just $242-billion.

Similarly, the government’s seven regional development agencies also expect to need less money in the next fiscal year as they unwind programs set up during the pandemic to support struggling businesses such as the tourism sector.  The economic development agency for southern Ontario, for example, has asked Parliament for 50 per cent less next year than it received this year while the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is asking for about 25 per cent