RNAO urges Prime Minister Mark Carney to put health, equity and sustainability ahead of militarization and austerity in upcoming federal budget

TORONTO, Nov. 3, 2025 /CNW/ - As Canadians await Tuesday's federal budget, the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) expresses deep concern that Prime Minister Mark Carney's government is leading Canada toward austerity, militarization, and environmental disaster – rather than the equitable, sustainable, and compassionate future that Canadians expect.

RNAO anticipates promising elements in the budget such as automatic tax filing for low-income Canadians and a permanent national school food program would be positive steps that would help reduce poverty and improve children's health. Likewise, the shift toward infrastructure investment is welcome if it prioritizes green infrastructure, the care economy, and affordable housing. Reducing reliance on the United States and diversifying exports is positive if it's linked to industrial policy that advances climate transition, Indigenous rights and good, low‑carbon jobs.

"During the recent election, when the leader of the official opposition, Pierre Poilievre, called openly to kill equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives, drastically cut social programs, and imperil our future by abandoning climate action, many Canadians – nurses included – placed their hopes in Mark Carney to build a healthier, fairer and more sustainable economy," says RNAO President NP Lhamo Dolkar. "Instead, the current budget prognostications are deeply troubling. It seems the government is more attuned to corporate, financial, and defence interests – particularly fossil fuel sectors – than to the health and wellbeing of Canadians. We urge the prime minister and his cabinet to listen carefully and change course."

Threat to the fabric of social and health programs

RNAO warns that health equity initiatives, including pharmacare, dental care, support for victims of gender-based violence, and Indigenous health programs, may be deprioritized in favor of defence and natural resource extraction and associated infrastructure. The government's lack of commitment to expanding pharmacare is particularly disheartening.

The anticipated operational spending cuts and the sunsetting of temporary programs will likely lead to real reductions in health, social, and environmental supports. Community care, mental health and substance-use services, Indigenous health, housing, and climate adaptation programs are all at risk. These cuts threaten the social fabric that Carney pledged to protect.

"These aren't just budget line items," says RNAO President-Elect Sue LeBeau. "They represent essential federally or jointly funded supports – public health programs that protect families, addiction services that save lives, and national initiatives that build community resilience. Allowing these programs to quietly disappear would abandon those who need care the most."

RNAO cautions that the government's new fiscal framework, which separates operational from capital spending, may obfuscate deep cuts through accounting re-labeling. "Budgets should not use gimmicks to disguise austerity," adds LeBeau. "Canadians deserve transparency regarding funding for their health and social services."

While maintaining major federal-to-provincial health care transfers is a positive step, RNAO emphasizes that it is insufficient. These transfers must increase to meet population needs and sustain public health systems, preventing provinces from using shortfalls to justify privatization and service cuts. Ottawa should also make continued transfers conditional on provinces to ensure enforcement of the Canada Health Act, to stop privatization and prevent further erosion of public care.

Positive development: Affordable housing

The launch of Build Canada Homes (BCH) last September signaled a welcome commitment from the federal government to building affordable homes at scale with an initial $13 billion capitalization and returning the government to a direct-build approach using federal lands. While this initiative provides a strong foundation, it must be significantly expanded and funded in the upcoming budget. RNAO expects the budget to double the pace of affordable, supportive and accessible housing construction, allocate predictable multi-year funding for deeply affordable units (including transitional and Indigenous-led housing), and integrate wrap-around health, mental health, and home care supports into the housing portfolio. "Given Canada's critical need for an estimated $4.4 million additional affordable homes, the upcoming budget must turn aspirations into action, or risk BCH becoming another underfunded promise," says RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun.

Misguided priority: Militarization over wellbeing

Grinspun expresses alarm over the government's unprecedented plans to increase defence spending and deepen integration with U.S. military strategy. Carney has announced a military spending increase from NATO's guideline of 2 per cent to a record 5 per cent of GDP. Of this, 3.5 per cent will be allocated to military hardware and operations, with an additional 1.5 per cent supporting military-related economic activities. The government is expected to reach the 2 per cent target this year, resulting in a sharp increase in defence expenditures not seen in modern Canadian history.

"This astonishing escalation in military spending comes at a time when Canadians face significant social and climate crises," says Grinspun. "Billions are earmarked for fighter jets and U.S.-led defence projects like President Trump's 'Golden Dome' instead of funding essential services such as firefighter aircraft, housing and health care. Canada must not become an auxiliary of the U.S. military-industrial complex."

Grinspun warns that this shift signifies a dangerous militarization of Canada's economy and foreign policy. "During a period of collapsing health systems, worsening affordability, and escalating climate emergencies, diverting public funds to weapons rather than human security is indefensible. Canada should invest in peacebuilding and humanitarian aid – not in perpetuating an arms race and creating a more dangerous world."           

Contributing to climate disaster

Grinspun also warns that the government's fiscal and policy choices are undermining urgently needed climate action. Since taking office, Carney has rolled back or frozen key environmental measures – including cancelling the consumer carbon levy and postponing the zero-emission vehicle mandate – while approving new fossil fuel infrastructure projects such as liquefied natural gas. Promised steps to strengthen industrial carbon pricing and cap emissions in oil and gas remain unfulfilled, leaving Canada adrift from its legally binding Paris and Glasgow targets.

"The turn toward austerity comes precisely when we need ambitious public investment in the care economy, affordable housing, and a rapid shift away from fossil fuels," says Grinspun, adding that "by favouring the extraordinarily wealthy and largely foreign-owned fossil fuel industry, Canada is sacrificing its future. Ordinary people pay the price through extreme weather, wildfires, floods, food insecurity, and soaring costs for insurance, housing, and health care. Climate change is already a health emergency, and every delay deepens the harm."

Growing wealth concentration and fiscal imbalance

Canada faces a widening fiscal deficit and growing inequality, worsened by the government's failure to raise revenues fairly. "While the deficit grows, so does inequality," emphasizes Grinspun. "It is unacceptable that the government cancelled the planned capital gains tax increase, avoids taxing large wealth and inheritances, and refuses to close loopholes or confront offshore tax havens." She adds that this imbalance undermines the social contract and weakens the ability to fund public priorities.

"Equally troubling are the subsidies still flowing to fossil fuel companies and the historic rise in military spending which expand the fiscal deficit," adds Grinspun. "Canada cannot sustain a caring society when the wealthy and polluters are protected while social programs and climate investments are starved." RNAO insists that extreme wealth must be taxed fairly and revenues directed to strengthen social programs, expand public health care, and build a caring, sustainable economy.

Call for a course correction

RNAO calls for a decisive shift in priorities and values in the federal budget – one that restores fairness, protects health care, and invests in people rather than privilege. Nurses urge the federal government to:

• Protect and expand social and health programs, ensuring that critical federal initiatives are renewed and strengthened rather than allowed to "sunset."
• Strengthen and expand publicly funded health care through increased federal health transfers, full enforcement of the Canada Health Act and stopping privatization, and complete implementation of long-promised national pharmacare, dental care and childcare programs.
• Scale up Build Canada Homes with dedicated funding and predictable timelines to meet Canada's urgent non-market and social housing needs, while integrating wrap-around health, mental health, and home care supports within the program.
• In addition to affordable housing, prioritize investments in food security, mental health, and substance use supports – core social determinants of health.
• Eliminate fossil‑fuel subsidies and reinvest in clean energy, climate‑resilient infrastructure, and present a climate action plan with commitments, mechanisms, and timelines aligned with international climate goals.
• Reverse the surge in military expenditures and reinvest those funds in peacebuilding, humanitarian aid, and domestic emergency preparedness.

"Nurses stand with the millions of Canadians who desire a healthy, fair, caring, and sustainable society," says Dolkar. "We need a government that prioritizes health, compassion, and planetary wellbeing over corporate and military interests. This is a moment for courage and vision – not cuts and militarization."

The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional association representing registered nurses, nurse practitioners and nursing students in Ontario. Since 1925, RNAO has advocated for healthy public policy, promoted excellence in nursing practice, increased nurses' contribution to shaping the health system, and influenced decisions that affect nurses and the public we serve. This year marks our 100^th anniversary. For more information about RNAO, visit RNAO.ca or follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

SOURCE Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario

For more information, please contact: Marion Zych, Director of Communications, Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO), 1-800-268-7199 ext. 209, 416-408-5605, 647-406-5605 (cell), [e-mail]