Since taking office on March 14, 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney has spent much of his first eight months abroad, visiting France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Vatican City, the United States, Mexico, Egypt, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea. During that time, he has attended only 16 sitting days in the House of Commons.

While the prime minister has been overseas, Ottawa has expanded its bureaucracy through a series of new agencies and offices. The Defence Investment Agency was launched Oct. 2, 2025, while the proposed Canada Financial Crimes Agency is receiving $2 million in initial funding over two years, alongside nearly $90 million to strengthen the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada. A response group has also been established to manage the closure of General Motors’ Ingersoll facility, and a new housing agency will administer a $13-billion affordable construction fund.

Canada’s federal workforce has grown about 43 per cent since 2015 — from roughly 257,000 to more than 367,000 employees — as new programs and oversight layers multiply. The latest proposal for the federal government to prepare Canadians’ tax returns is expected to expand that number further. Critics say the result is added red tape and higher costs, with limited economic return.

Carney’s government has also shifted the federal budget cycle, moving its release to the fall instead of the spring, and dividing expenditures between operational and capital categories. Both, however, remain taxpayer-funded spending.

Economists project one of Canada’s largest peacetime deficits for the 2025-26 fiscal year, ranging between $70 billion and $100 billion, as commitments to defence, housing and infrastructure continue to push expenditures higher than growth.

Eight months into Carney’s tenure, the pattern is clear: more travel, more bureaucracy and a growing deficit. The government has expanded in size and cost, but measurable results remain limited.