Photo: The Canadian Press

Pierre Poilievre

The Conservative party released an election platform Tuesday that forecasts $100 billion in deficits over the next four years, along with billions of dollars in tax cuts and new revenues.

"Let's be clear. All of these deficits that we're talking about were inherited from the previous Liberal government," Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said at a press conference in Vaughan, Ont.

He said the Conservatives believe they can reduce the projected size of the deficit this fiscal year — $46.8 billion — to $31.3 billion through higher revenues and spending cuts.

The platform predicts $20 billion in revenue coming from counter-tariffs on the U.S. this fiscal year — a figure Poilievre said he borrowed from the Liberal government's own projections.

"What I have committed to is redistributing that money to Canadians though tax cuts and through targeted aid to industries that are directly affected," he said.

The Conservative platform — the last of the major party platforms to be released — comes out after four days of advance voting and just six days before the election.

It includes the party's pledge to reduce the rate of the lowest income tax bracket to 12.75 per cent from 15 per cent. It also says that tax cut is being phased in over four years — something Poilievre did not mention when he announced it earlier in the campaign.

The party projects the tax cut will cost just over $1 billion this year, rising to $13.6 billion in 2028-29.

Poilievre said his plan would cut bureaucracy, government consulting and some foreign aid and "unleash a half-trillion dollars of economic growth" in the resource development and housing sectors.

The party projects a Conservative government would take in $12.8 billion in new revenue from increased homebuilding over four years.

Poilievre said that figure is based on a report that said the government collects around $70,000 in taxes from the construction of a new home. His party is promising to build 2.3 million homes.

The platform also projects an immediate economic boom triggered by its planned repeal of the Impact Assessment Act — a boom the party says would result in the government collecting almost $1 billion in revenue over four years.

Poilievre has said previously he would implement dollar-for-dollar tariffs to match those imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, and immediately seek to begin negotiations on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade deal in order to put an end to tariffs.

The Conservatives say they will reach the NATO defence spending target of at least two per cent of GDP per year by 2030 by "rapidly" expanding military spending, though the platform offers few details.

The platform projects another $2 billion in military spending this fiscal year, and $17 billion over four years.

Canada was projected to spend about $41 billion on defence over the 2024-25 fiscal year, or 1.37 per cent of GDP. The parliamentary budget officer said in a report last fall that defence spending will need to almost double to $81.9 billion to meet the target by 2032.

The Conservatives are also promising to cut $23 billion in government program spending over four years — a figure that includes their promise to defund the CBC.

The party said it is "committed to preserving francophone Radio-Canada services across the country" and has pledged $25 million in support for Indigenous language media and another $25 million for the Local Journalism Initiative.

Poilievre's plan promises to streamline the public service through attrition by replacing only two of every three federal workers who retire. The Conservatives also say they want to "eliminate university degree requirements for most federal public service roles to hire for skill, not credentials."

They've pledged to cut $10.5 billion in government spending on what they call consultants, though they offer no detailed explanation of how that will be achieved.