" Maitre chez nous " — "master in our own house" — was a rallying cry of Jean Lesage's Quiet Revolution , a period of rapid modernization and reform in Quebec in the 1960s. Mark Carney first tried it out a year and a half ago in the shadow of Donald Trump's America and a newly anglicized version — "masters of our destiny" — adorns the Carney government's second budget. "The moment in front of us is serious," Finance Minister François Philippe-Champagne said in presenting the budget on Thursday. "The moment demands an ambitious plan to be masters of our destiny; to be maîtres chez nous ." Carney has never claimed to be a revolutionary. Champagne's suggestion earlier this week that this week's budget was about "changing Canada's growth model" is perhaps as close as the Carney government will come to declaring a rousing overthrow of the old order. But perhaps the Carney government's second budget can be said to be another step in the prime minister's own version of a quiet revolution. 7 takeaways from the Carney government's 2nd budget Canada's new budget proposes $5B for culture. Here's where it would go Budget offers $50B jolt to help Canada double its electricity grid The primary front in the revolution remains that "growth model." The single largest line item in this budget is the "productivity mega-deduction," a previously announced measure that cuts the effective tax rate on new business investment. Over the next five years it is expected to cost the federal treasury approximately $36 billion, a quarter of all new spending in the budget. Paired with a new capital-gains exemption for entrepreneurs, the government hopes the "mega-deduction" will kickstart an "investment supercycle." Nearly $9 billion is set aside for boosting the deployment of clean electricity — the backbone of Carney's climate agenda — and there is a commitment to work with provinces to provide further financing going forward. Over $2 billion is set aside for transforming the forestry sector, and $1.7 billion for the development of critical minerals. There is money as well for the nuclear industry and building new charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. The government will fully fund and construct the Mackenzie Valley Highway project in the Northwest Territories and support two hydro projects in the Yukon. It is moving forward with plans to privatize some of the operations of Canada's biggest airports and it will begin inviting Canadians to invest in a new sovereign wealth fund. This is the continuation of an agenda that champions the ideas of investment and building things — a tonal and now fiscal shift away from the Trudeau era. However much this might amount to a revolution, it is also a long-term plan that may only start to be felt in the medium term. In the meantime, the short term cries out for attention. To the affordability concerns that may define this moment as much as the geopolitical upheaval, the Carney government's latest response includes enhancing both the groceries and essentials benefit (previously known as the GST benefit) and the workers benefit (an income-based tax credit), two policy changes that will particularly benefit low-income households. Those two policies will cost $6.7 billion. A previously announced suspension of the federal gas tax is projected to cost another $2.9 billion. The Carney government is setting a goal of eliminating homelessness over the next decade and is putting $11.2 billion over the next five years toward that goal. New funds are also being put toward affordable housing and using federal land to build more homes — a lack of new housing construction remains one of the government's most acute vulnerabilities. Cheers — and jeers — in the House as Champagne talks trust after budget release Though it might make fewer headlines, the bud
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