**‘This will be the most costly five years, if it is allowed to happen, in any of Canada’s history,’ said Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. / TWITTER PHOTO**

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre took aim at Prime Minister Mark Carney’s fiscal policy on Friday, accusing the Liberal government of burdening Canadians with record deficits and unnecessary bureaucracy.

Speaking to business leaders at the Economic Club of Canada, Poilievre delivered a critique of the Liberal government’s Nov. 4 federal budget, describing it as a costly expansion of government spending and control.

“What you really have as a difference between us, between the Carney Liberals and the Poilievre Conservatives, is this: They believe in adding new obstacles for all of you, and then asking you to go to them and ask for a handout to help you get over those same obstacles,” Poilievre said. “When, in fact, we should do none of the above. We should get out of the way and off your back.”

Poilievre criticized the budget’s $78.3-billion deficit projection. He argued that the government’s plan — nearly $90 billion in new spending over five years — would deepen the fiscal hole rather than strengthen Canada’s economy.

“This will be the most costly five years, if it is allowed to happen, in any of Canada’s history. And make no mistake, this is not due to the falling revenue from the trade war. It is due to increased government spending,” he said.

Poilievre told the Economic Club audience that the Liberals’ approach to managing the economy is driven by bureaucracy, not productivity.

Canada has “literally everything it takes to have the highest quality of living,” he said, noting the abundant natural resources. “We have the most resources in the world, but we can’t get them to markets, and the biggest market to which we get them has near monopoly on our most precious, and just in terms of dollar value, our biggest exports, oil and gas.”

He accused the government of creating new bureaucracies to oversee key sectors such as homebuilding, saying those measures only make it harder for developers to build. Poilievre said home construction should be tax-free, and argued that the proposed sales tax waiver on some new builds for first-time buyers doesn’t go far enough.

Poilievre also urged Ottawa to cut red tape for resource developers and allow exports of Canadian oil and liquefied natural gas from British Columbia to Asian markets. He renewed his call to abolish the industrial carbon price and other taxes and regulations that he said drive up costs for farmers and the food supply chain.

Poilievre did, however, express support for Liberal efforts to create a stablecoin framework, provided it enhances competition and affordability within Canada’s financial sector. He added that Conservatives would back any parliamentary effort to establish a stablecoin system that improves the country’s “extremely slow” payment processing.

Poilievre’s remarks came as political tensions around the budget continued to rise in Ottawa.

Alberta Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux sparked renewed disarray in his party by announcing Thursday he will be quitting as an MP. It came two days after Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont shocked Ottawa by defecting to the Liberals.