To chop spending, Ottawa will cut science, tourism, foreign aid programs – National

The federal government has tabled details of how it plans to cut billions of dollars from programs that support science, tourism, harbour improvements, journalism, foreign aid, and even the development of a Canadian-made lunar rover module.

The cuts are detailed in hundreds of pages of departmental plans tabled in the House of Commons last Friday as MPs were preparing to return to their ridings for March break week.

Global News has analyzed the departmental plans of more than 80 federal government departments and agencies, as well as the government’s 2026-27 spending plan that was tabled in the House on March 3.

Together, those sets of documents paint a picture of a Carney government that has clearly set significantly different spending priorities from its predecessor, with a heavy focus on national defence — year-over-year defence spending will jump nearly 12 per cent, or $5.3 billion — while dialling back spending on health, the environment and funding for regional economic development.

“We need to be ambitious in our investments and rigorous in our spending,” Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said as he tabled the 2026-27 budget on Nov. 4, 2025.

“That is why this budget charts a new course for Canada’s public finances. Canadians expect their government to achieve results. To get there, we must spend less on operations so we can invest more in Canada’s future.”

The spending plan, known in Parliament as the main estimates, shows that 85 departments will collectively receive about $31 billion less in the fiscal year that begins April 1 relative to the spending levels already approved for the current fiscal year.

Meanwhile, about 40 departments will collectively see their spending budgets jump by about $23 billion in 2026-27.

The departmental plans provide details on how each organization will carry out its business plans with the funding provided.

Employment and Social Development Canada, for example, said it expects to save $1.4 billion “largely due to the sunsetting of temporary program funding, including the Early Learning and Child Care Program and Canada Summer Jobs.”

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans will spend $371 million less over the next two years on its small craft harbours program.

Global Affairs Canada will reduce its workforce by seven per cent, or 887 people, over the next two years and allow several overseas programs to “sunset,” such as Canada’s International Climate Finance Commitment. Sunsetting that program alone will save $812 million.

The Canadian Space Agency has had its budget cut by $400 million, or more than one-third, and cancelled further work on a lunar rover discovery vehicle.

But many of the other cuts are smaller as the government ends myriad support programs, including:

• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will end its Agriculture Climate Solution Living Labs program, a program set up in 2021 with an annual budget of about $18 million.
• The government will not renew the $60-million-a-year Wine Sector Support Program.
• The Local Food Infrastructure — which gave community groups grants of up to $500,000 for greenhouses, cold storage and processing equipment — will end.
• The $36-million-a-year Tourism Growth Program will end. It provided grants to tourism businesses to develop new products and services.
• The Department of Canadian Heritage will make reductions in the Canada Cultural Space Fund, Canada Media Fund, Canada Periodical Fund and Local Journalism, realizing savings of $76 million by 2028-29. Meanwhile, the CBC will get $192 million less next year, a seven per cent spending cut.
• Library and Archives Canada will cut its spending by nearly $50 million over the next three years, partly by ending the Documentary Heritage Communities Program and reducing Access to Information and Privacy functions.

Almost all agencies and departments that have had their budgets cut plan to reduce their employee headcount and be more efficient with their reduced funding.

The biggest losers, so far as having their budgets cut, are the Canada Revenue Agency (down $4.3 billion, or 41 per cent, versus spending approved so far for 2025-26); Fisheries and Oceans ($4.3 billion, or 69 per cent); Indigenous Services ($3 billion, or 11 per cent), Crown-Indigenous Relations ($2.7 billion, or 19 pere cent) and Global Affairs Canada ($2.1 billion, or 23 per cent).

The biggest winners are the Department of Finance (up $8.5 billion, or 5.7 per cent), Employment and Social Development ($5.7 billion, or 5.4 per cent) and the Department of National Defence ($5.3 billion, or 11.6 per cent).

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