Following the incoming Trump administration’s creation of the Department of Government Efficiencies (DOGE), the Poilievre Conservatives are promising efficiency measures of their own.
In an email, the Conservative Shadow Minister for Finance, Jasraj Singh Hallan, told The Counter Signal that on top of scrapping the carbon tax, a Conservative government would create a “Tax Reform Task Force.”
“We’ll cut Trudeau’s $21 billion in high-priced consultants and external contractors and bring a Tax Reform Task Force (without lobbyists) to design a Bring it Home Tax Cut for Canadians,” he said.
He added, “And we will bring in a dollar for dollar law which requires a dollar of savings for every new dollar of government spending.”
While the Trudeau Liberals’ common line of attack on the Conservatives is that they will “cut, cut, cut,” the Conservatives have focused on the Liberals’ excessive and, at times, pointless spending.
Earlier this year, speaking in Vancouver, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre promised that, if elected, he would “get rid of the $35 billion Infrastructure Bank that hasn’t completed a single solitary infrastructure project.”
Poilievre also promised to “get rid of the so-called Green Fund, a billion dollars, 150 million of which has already been misappropriated.”
Financial corruption
In 2021, the Liberals’ Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) began receiving $1 billion following the signing of a 5-year agreement.
Almost immediately, the organization engaged in activities whistleblowers alleged constituted mass-scale financial corruption, which they further stated the federal government was trying to cover up.
The RCMP is currently investigating the alleged crimes committed by the SDTC, following a scathing report from Canada’s Auditor General, Karen Hogan, who found the group violated conflict of interest policies 90 times and awarded $59 million to 10 ineligible projects that lied about potential environmental benefits.
Trump creates DOGE
The Conservatives’ promise to create a Tax Reform Task Force comes one week after US President Trump announced the establishment of DOGE, which will be led by billionaire entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
DOGE aims to save trillions of dollars in federal government waste and inefficiency through cost-saving reforms and cuts to unnecessary spending by targeting sectors like consultancy costs, ineffective projects, and foreign aid. Trump gave the department until July 4, 2026 to finish their work. Musk and Ramaswamy have stated that it’ll be done much earlier.
Musk made headlines in Canada earlier this year regarding unnecessary government spending, when he said he could provide Starlink to rural Canada for “less than half” of the cost of the Liberals’ plan.
DOGE envied by Canadians
Following the creation of DOGE, Canadian social media users have called on the Conservatives to create a similar department, noting outlandish expenditures by the federal Liberals.
The Federal Director of Canadian Taxpayers Association, Franco Terrazzno, put together a thread on social media, showcasing a number of outrageous grants given out by the Liberals, including one titled “Finding Social Justice through Distinctions in Modest Fashion for Men, Women and Transgender People.”
A parody account, PETRIFIED COVID PARENT, also quipped, “We don’t need DOGE in Canada, because our Government only spends tax dollars on important things. (Gender politics in Peruvian Rock Music.)”
And Rumble Video CEO, Chris Pavlovski, posted, “We need @DOGE in Canada @PierrePoilievre. We should be taking notes from @elonmusk and @VivekGRamaswamy, and I’d be willing to help.”
