Budget 2026 doubles down on corporate handouts and attacks on workers

OTTAWA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CUPE, Canada’s largest union, says the 2026 federal budget is the next step in selling what Canadians have built over generations to billionaire investors. The result: cuts to jobs and vital public services that workers and their families depend on.

Letting private investors profit from public services like health care and from infrastructure like airports makes life harder and less affordable for workers, and leaves Canada unprepared for the economic challenges ahead.

“The Carney Liberals can afford to invest in the workers and public services that are the bedrock of this country. Instead the budget rolls out the red carpet for billionaire investors to profit from privatization and pulls the rug out from under working families. We won’t make Canada stronger by making workers weaker,” says CUPE National President Mark Hancock.

Budget 2026 shows the federal government's balance sheet is stronger than projected last year. Despite having room to spend, the budget’s inadequate increases in health and social transfers won’t preserve existing services, let alone improve them. Major flaws in income supports remain unaddressed.

“Public services like health care and child care make life more affordable and boost the economy by creating good jobs and supporting working families. Building up our public services is the best way to strengthen and build our economy,” says CUPE National Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick.

The budget won’t help provinces address growing the health care pressures that fuel privatization. The federal child care program rollout remains slow, partial and uncertain. There’s nothing to tackle the structural underfunding of post-secondary education. And infrastructure funding for municipalities remains wrapped in the red tape of expensive and risky public-private schemes.

The continued focus on housing is positive, but lack of transparency around Build Canada Homes raises doubt about the concrete impact of investments on affordability. Over the next five years, the federal government will forgo $36 billion in corporate tax revenues through the ‘Productivity Mega Deduction,’ without conditions ensuring this measure benefits working families. The annual cost of this deduction is more than double the annual increase in health care spending.

The budget also advances plans to sell off control of Canada’s biggest four airports in 40- or 50-year deals with profit-driven investors, and signals other publicly owned assets will be on the auction block.

Budget 2026 is a missed opportunity to strengthen the public services and public infrastructure that are Canada’s bedrock, especially in tough economic times. Failing to invest in the people at the heart of our economy makes Canada more, not less, vulnerable to U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing assaults.