Canadians disappointed in Carney will still vote for him, Poilievre's troubles and competing speeches...

Plus poppies and ostriches on this Friday evening.

Canadians aren’t overly impressed with Mark Carney’s government, at least not according to the polling. Still, it sure looks like Canadians would vote for Carney and his team if an election were held today.

Leger’s latest poll put the Carney Liberals at 43% support nationally, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives at 38% while the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP are back at 7% each. That’s not a bad position for Bloc, which only runs in Quebec, but it is horrible for the NDP which runs nationally and isn’t doing well.

I talked about this in an episode of Lilley Unleashed.

Here’s the screenshot of the poll that I referenced in the video. On several of Carney’s top campaign promises, a strong majority of the public says they are disappointed with his ability to deliver.

A reminder, we have an Ask Me Anything this Sunday…

This Sunday at 2pm ET, there will be a live Ask Me Anything, no, not on Reddit, it will be over the Substack App and available to all paid subscribers. If you can’t make it at 2pm ET on Sunday, you will be able to watch later on via a recording of the event.

If you are able to participate, you will get an alert via the Substack app or via email once I am live. Sorry, this is the best we can do, but don’t worry, I give everyone a few minutes before I get into the meat and potatoes of the event.

If you want to ask about the budget, about floor crossers, that ad, or what certain politicians are like in person, join in and ask away.

You can also send questions ahead of time to brian@brianlilley.com.

Ottawa’s finances are burning, but sure, focus on the Conservatives…

I get it, the drama from the Conservative benches - a floor crossing, a resignation, rumours of more to come - it’s all really sexy. The problem is, compared to the disaster that is the Carney Liberal budget, it’s all small ball.

We have a real issue with the budget, as I wrote in the Toronto Sun today.

Fitch’s Rating agency, a major international credit rating agency, is slamming this budget. One of the issues that they highlight is one that I have been talking about, the government is promising to cut spending next year, but that is unlikely to happen.

“The Canadian government has a track record of upward deficit revisions, with subsequent budget updates consistently worse than prior projections,” Fitch said.

Under the Trudeau government, program spending went up by about 8% per year on average, something Mark Carney has rightly called unsustainable. Yet, his own budget increases spending by 7.2% this year.

All that said, is Poilievre in trouble…

When the whole gallery is facing one direction, it’s generally best to look the other way. Right now, a Parliamentary Press Gallery that is generally opposed to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, is running at full tilt with stories about how the Conservatives are in trouble.

Some might be asking how this is different from any other day?

That’s a fair point, the gallery is generally out to ensure the Conservatives never take power in Ottawa. And yet, that doesn’t mean that Poilievre isn’t in trouble, that things aren’t getting worse.

I’ve heard concern from some inside the tent.

I’ll be speaking to people over the coming days and will report back soon with a real assessment.

All the ostriches are dead…

My Sun colleague Joe Warmington is following the cull at the Universal Ostrich Farm in British Columbia. Sounds like the cull took place overnight and shocked an awful lot of people.

I still have trouble understanding the outrage over this case when there are culls every year on various farms with no protests. Still, I do understand the frustration that many have when it comes to why the birds had to die rather than be tested again.

Stop banning poppies…

Tim Houston, the Premier of Nova Scotia, is in my experience, just a decent man. So I wasn’t shocked that he stepped up to push back against the insanity of telling lawyers and court workers that they couldn’t wear a poppy into the court because it was seen as a political statement.

I’m glad Premier Houston stepped up, but he shouldn’t have had to do this. Neither should Premier Scott Moe in Saskatchewan where they have already passed legislation on this, but woke officials are trying to ban the poppy.

Competing speeches on what matters most, the economy…

Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre were just a few hundred metres from each other giving competing speeches on the economy and the budget. As you can imagine, they had very different takes on what is happening in Canada and what should come next.

Carney was at the Canadian Club of Canada at Arcadian Court while Poilievre was the Economic Club of Canada at the Hilton just a block and a half away.

Both speeches are below for your enjoyment.

Mark Carney’s full speech at the Canadian Club in Toronto…

Poilievre’s full speech at the Economic Club of Canada…