The Election Files: Why tax cuts won’t cut it

 This is is the first instalment of The Breach Election Files, our pop-up election newsletter.

Election season is here! And the Breach team is ready to bring you the kind of journalism you won’t find in establishment media. 

We’ll draw on our past investigations and analyses to unpack key campaign promises, cut through the parties’ spin, and reveal what’s left unsaid.

We know elections aren’t just about choosing who governs—they also determine the opponent social movements will be up against. 

So, let’s dig in and get to know them better.

The pro-corporate response to Trump’s tariff tantrum

Today, news of Donald’s Trump’s 25% tariffs on auto imports dominated the campaign trail. 

By now, it’s clear how the two leading parties—the Liberals and the Conservatives—plan to respond. Their scripts are strikingly similar—and they look a lot like the corporate playbook.

• Corporate lobbyists are seizing the trade chaos to push for tax cuts, deregulation, pipelines, and military spending. Sound familiar? Read more >>>

Canada’s CEOs want to cash in on Trump’s tariff threats

• At the same time, the country’s political, business, and media class have been coalescing around one demand: tearing down trade barriers between provinces. One problem? These so-called barriers are a manufactured crisis—an excuse to push deregulation. Read more >>>

The freakout about Canada’s ‘internal trade barriers’ is a corporate scam

• On a recent episode of The Breach Show, we broke down what Trump’s tariff war could mean for workers, how to make sense of establishment responses, and how progressives can seize this moment. Listen now >>>

Trump’s tariff tantrum against Canada explained

Tax cuts = affordability?

The Liberals and Conservatives wasted no time putting affordability at the centre of their campaigns on day one.

Their big idea? Cutting income taxes, of course! 

Both parties want to lower the rate for the lowest federal tax bracket, currently at 15%. The Liberals would cut it by 1%, while the Conservatives would bring it down to 12.75% over two years.

It’s no surprise they’re hyper-focused on affordability. It consistently ranks as a top concern for Canadians in recent polls—and it’s on a lot of minds with Trump’s tariff wars.

But here’s the thing: while these cuts may sound good on paper, they won’t do much for those who need help the most. They’ll do almost nothing for low-income earners, who stand to be the hardest hit by rising food and energy prices that could come from a tariff war. 

So what could actually make an impact? 

• ✅ A ‘no one left behind strategy’ that draws lessons from the COVID-19 response—think income supports, better access to EI, a moratorium on rent hikes and eviction, and an end to corporate profiteering. Read more >>>
  

Trump’s trade war is a perfect time to embrace a ‘no one left behind’ strategy

• ✅ Leveraging the power of the federal government to do big, bold things in the public interest. The tariff war has been a true ‘look-in-the-mirror’ moment for Canada. If we seize the moment to ditch the pro-corporate playbook, we can not only win this war but also solve the crises of housing, health, transit, and the cost of living. Read more >>>

Trump’s economic war is ours to win—if we ditch the corporate playbook and think big

Here’s another thing: neither of the two leading parties have said how they would pay for these tax cuts. 

Sure, taxpayers might pay a little less—but at what cost? More cuts to already under-funded services like health care, child care, or Employment Insurance? 

It’s hard not to worry about the fate of social programs when both party leaders are so fixated on not running a deficit. 

Carney has already ditched billions in potential revenue by scrapping a modest capital gains tax hike on the ultra-wealthy. And he wants to redirect billions more in public spending towards the military to meet targets set by NATO. 

If Poilievre is elected, his austerity agenda could put vital federal programs like child care, dental care, and pharmacare in jeopardy. 

The bottom line? If the parties are going to tackle the affordability crisis and improve people’s living standards, tax cuts for the middle class aren’t going to…er, cut it. 

Here’s what will:

• ✅ Making the rich pay their fair share. A modest wealth tax could bring in more than $363 billion over 10 years. The idea is popular across party lines—even among Conservative voters—but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the party platforms. Read more >>>
  

A modest wealth tax would raise $363B over 10 years: new analysis

• ✅ In just one year, we could raise $180 billion by redirecting funding from prisons, the military, and fossil fuel subsidies towards services that would actually benefit Canadians. Read more >>>
  

5 things Canada could defund to pay for an epic just transition

• ✅ None of this is radical or new. Canada had a wealth tax in 1919, and it would only take straightforward reforms to institute it now—no McKinsey consultants requiredneeded. Read more >>>

Canada has the tools it needs to make a wealth tax work

Also on the campaign trail this week: 

📌 CSIS allegations about Indian proxies organizing support for Poilievre’s 2022 leadership bid have resurfaced. The allegations aren’t new and don’t include evidence that Poilievre knew, but they’ve reignited criticism of his refusal to get a security clearance. 

• Earlier this year, we reported on the Conservative Party’s growing alliance with far-wing Hindu groups in Canada. Read more>>>

📌 Secrecy is emerging as a theme this election season. Since his bid for Liberal leadership, Carney has refused to proactively disclose his financial assets. After taking office, he put all his assets into a blind trust, to be managed by a trustee. This week, he was under pressure to explain why Brookfield—the giant asset management firm he co-chaired—relied on a tax haven. 

• We’ve profiled some of Carney’s previous dealings, including his time at Brookfield. Read more>>>

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That’s it for this week! Stay tuned as we share regular analysis from The Breach Election Files in the coming weeks. 

And look out for our weekly election podcast kicking off next week. You can get The Breach Show on Apple, Spotify, Iheartradio, Google or your favourite service.