Trudeau government went wild with DEI spending and Carney government still pouring a lot of money into it.

[blackbird]

"

In 2023, the Treasury Board of Canada’s program spending on diversity, equity and inclusion was roughly 100 times what it was in 2016. Public Safety Canada’s was about 40 times higher. The federal Crown prosecution service spent 20 times more.

These are some of the figures that were revealed in a House of Commons report tabled in response to a question by Conservative MP Vincent Ho. Back in October, he asked all federal departments to detail their DEI program spending, DEI-related jobs and DEI contracts, along with an explanation of how they evaluate DEI performance.

The results came back in the first week of December. And while they don’t paint a complete picture of how much DEI accounts for budgetary waste in the federal government, they do provide a useful outline.

On program and salary spending, the report reveals a massive increase over the years of the Liberal government: modest sums in 2015 and 2016 that grow by orders of magnitude to peak around 2023. By the very end of the Trudeau government and the beginning of that of Prime Minister Mark Carney, the feds were no longer throwing record amounts of money at DEI, but they’re still shovelling it out in volumes far beyond 2015 levels. It’s like speeding: you may not be going 200 km/h anymore, but slowing down to 170 is still a problem.

Aside from Treasury Board, Public Safety and the prosecution service, which all confirmed to Parliament that they did indeed spend a boatload more on DEI, Veterans Affairs Canada saw a similar hike. It went from spending nothing on such programs until 2019, when it tallied $54,000 in DEI programs. From 2022 to 2021, that figure was over $1 million each year. Transport Canada went from spending about $4,000 on such things in 2016 to $1 million in 2023.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada spent only $11,000 on DEI between 2016 and 2021; but in 2024 alone, it spent $1.2 million. In 2022 it had only four full-time equivalent DEI roles — directors, managers and advisers with some nexus to inclusion. By 2024 there were 10 of these, including a new team lead and human resources officer for the department’s new Centre for Anti-Racism and Equity.

Yes, the federal department responsible for calculating how many crabs we can pull from the ocean each year has an anti-racism unit. The manager is paid somewhere between $113,000 and $126,000 and their job is to support racial employee clubs and deliver initiatives that “actively confront individual and systemic racism, (respect) the Canadian Human Rights Act, (advance) racial equity, and (foster) inclusive organizational and cultural practices.”

Similar positions cropped up elsewhere: at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, where DEI program spending rose from about $58,000 in 2016 to about $427,000 in 2025, a new advisor role on DEI was introduced in 2024 with a salary of about $100,000. And at Finance Canada, directors and analysts in DEI began taking roles in 2022 with salaries ranging from $113,000 to just over $200,000. And at the Department of National Defence, $100,000 was paid to each member of an anti-racism advisory panel.

Often underlooked are the various regional development agencies of the federal government. Here, we can see that they, too, have enjoyed the extra DEI money from on high. The Pacific region agency paid for sessions on “Indigenous Storytelling,” “Indigenous Medicine” and “Allyship and Psychological Safety.” The Southern Ontario agency has handed out $100 million in subsidies since 2016 for entrepreneurs who are either Black, female or official language minorities.

Western Canada’s agency, meanwhile, paid for anti-racism workshops from an Islamophobia-focused DEI consultant who believes that Canada’s default slate of Christian holidays perpetuates racial trauma against people of colour, and that asking someone if they condemn Hamas is an act of putting them through a psychological checkpoint which should be resisted.

But what’s most telling from this report back to Parliament are its gaps. Many departments simply refused to answer Ho’s inquiry. Women and Gender Equality Canada, for example, reported that it couldn’t determine its DEI spending and job count because it was so deeply integrated into the department’s functions (in a way, that’s true; the whole thing is a DEI department and we can safely file its entire $132 million budget under that category).

Other uncooperative departments? Canadian Heritage couldn’t say what its DEI program spending amounted to, even though it’s one of the strongest vanguards of the cause, nor could Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Indigenous Services Canada, Health Canada, the Department of Justice and the federal diversity bean-counting entity, Employment and Social Development Canada.

Those absences foreshadow the big job ahead of rooting DEI out of government. If civil servants can’t cobble together a list of DEI-related contracts, program spending totals and departmental jobs in a month for a simple House of Commons request, it’s going to be very difficult for the Conservative ministers who one day take office to clean it all up. The first step to making any cut is knowing what’s there to cut off. The longer civil servants can slow walk that information up to their ministers, the better for them.

So, when Conservative minister X takes office in Canadian Heritage someday, he can expect to be told that DEI is simply too integrated in the department to provide him a timely inventory report. His job will be to fire whatever deputy minister the Liberals left behind, and install a replacement who doesn’t take “no” for an answer. And when that person’s Liberal-leftover underlings give those same excuses, they, too, should be replaced. The same dance should play out in every other department that has fondly embraced discrimination under the guise of DEI.

There’s a lot of work ahead, but it’s doable — especially if the planning starts now.

National Post

Jamie Sarkonak: DEI funding exploded under Trudeau so much it can't even be counted

And we wonder why Canada is so far in debt and the price of housing, food, and everything is going out of sight.

Obviously the Conservatives are the only party that would start the huge task of rooting the DEI spending out of the various departments of government.  The Liberals and NDP and other parties have no wish to do anything significant about fixing the problem.  It would be a huge challenge, but it would be a necessary part of getting the spending under control for Canadians.  After all this is taxpayer money and it effects the standard of living of all Canadians by taking more of their money for DEI government spending.   I don't recall seeing news about this massive spending on the CBC or mainstream media in the past ten years.

 

Edited December 13, 2025 by blackbird

[ExFlyer]

Some of the stupidest accusations you have ever come up with LOL

[blackbird]

50 minutes ago, ExFlyer said:

Some of the stupidest accusations you have ever come up with LOL

Looks like Satan has a strong grip on your mind fella.   Facts are facts.

[ExFlyer]

27 minutes ago, blackbird said:

Looks like Satan has a strong grip on your mind fella.   Facts are facts.

FFS...

Well, now that is the stupidest thing you have ever come up with.

First of all "Canada has DEI initiativesbut they differ from U.S. models and are not mandated by a single law, though they are supported by human rights legislation and policies. Instead of quotas, Canadian DEI emphasizes equal opportunity, fair treatment, and preventing discrimination based on protected characteristics, which are legally required."

So, here are no facts in your post...your link is an American opinion piece with rambling accusations. If you want to claim fact..prove it. LOL

[ironstone]

DEI is indefensible at any time but more so given how much the Liberals have added to the debt. Lot's of Canadians are having a terrible time putting food on the table and yet this government makes DEI a priority?

It should not be used as a basis for hiring anywhere, certainly not in cabinet positions as Trudeau and Carney have done.

[Shady]

14 minutes ago, ExFlyer said:

FFS...

Well, now that is the stupidest thing you have ever come up with.

First of all "Canada has DEI initiativesbut they differ from U.S. models and are not mandated by a single law, though they are supported by human rights legislation and policies. Instead of quotas, Canadian DEI emphasizes equal opportunity, fair treatment, and preventing discrimination based on protected characteristics, which are legally required."

So, here are no facts in your post...your link is an American opinion piece with rambling accusations. If you want to claim fact..prove it. LOL

All of those protections were already in existing law.  

[Legato]

13 minutes ago, ExFlyer said:

So, here are no facts in your post...your link is an American opinion piece with rambling accusations. If you want to claim fact..prove it. LOL

This report was in reply to a question by MP Vincent Ho.

Written question in parliament:-

With regard to all diversity, equity, and inclusion-related programs, positions, training, contracts, initiatives, grants, and policies across all departments and agencies since January 1, 2016: (a) what is the total amount spent on diversity, equity and inclusion-related programs, broken down by year, and by department or agency; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by spending category, including (i) salaries and benefits, (ii) external consultants, (iii) training or workshop providers, (iv) grants, (v) communications and branding, (vi) travel and hospitality, (vii) other expenditures; (c) how many full-time equivalents are employed in diversity, equity and inclusion-related roles, broken down by year, by department or agency, and by job title; (d) what are the details of all contracts issued for diversity, equity and inclusion-related services, including, for each, the (i) vendor, (ii) contract value, (iii) date, (iv) description of the goods or services, (v) details on whether the contract was competitive or sole-sourced; (e) what performance metrics, if any, are used to evaluate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and what were the outcomes of those evaluations; and (f) who are the five most senior officials in each department and agency responsible for diversity, equity and inclusion implementation, and what are the details of each, including their (i) title, (ii) diversity, equity and inclusion-related responsibilities, (iii) Treasury Board classification level (EX-01, AS-07, etc.), and associated salary range?

 

https://www.ourcommons.ca/written-questions/45-1/q-479?response=13812249&section=instr&expandquestion=true

[ExFlyer]

30 minutes ago, Shady said:

All of those protections were already in existing law.  

Yes, that is why I made the post.

blackturds post is what I call stupid.

[ExFlyer]

29 minutes ago, Legato said:

This report was in reply to a question by MP Vincent Ho.

Written question in parliament:-

With regard to all diversity, equity, and inclusion-related programs, positions, training, contracts, initiatives, grants, and policies across all departments and agencies since January 1, 2016: (a) what is the total amount spent on diversity, equity and inclusion-related programs, broken down by year, and by department or agency; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by spending category, including (i) salaries and benefits, (ii) external consultants, (iii) training or workshop providers, (iv) grants, (v) communications and branding, (vi) travel and hospitality, (vii) other expenditures; (c) how many full-time equivalents are employed in diversity, equity and inclusion-related roles, broken down by year, by department or agency, and by job title; (d) what are the details of all contracts issued for diversity, equity and inclusion-related services, including, for each, the (i) vendor, (ii) contract value, (iii) date, (iv) description of the goods or services, (v) details on whether the contract was competitive or sole-sourced; (e) what performance metrics, if any, are used to evaluate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and what were the outcomes of those evaluations; and (f) who are the five most senior officials in each department and agency responsible for diversity, equity and inclusion implementation, and what are the details of each, including their (i) title, (ii) diversity, equity and inclusion-related responsibilities, (iii) Treasury Board classification level (EX-01, AS-07, etc.), and associated salary range?

 

https://www.ourcommons.ca/written-questions/45-1/q-479?response=13812249&section=instr&expandquestion=true

Your quote and link is questions...not a report.

As I posted, and even shady acknowledged, our "protections" are already in existing laws. We have no specific DEI initiatives or rules.

"Canada has DEI initiatives but they differ from U.S. models and are not mandated by a single law, though they are supported by human rights legislation and policies. Instead of quotas, Canadian DEI emphasizes equal opportunity, fair treatment, and preventing discrimination based on protected characteristics, which are legally required."

[ExFlyer]

49 minutes ago, ironstone said:

DEI is indefensible at any time but more so given how much the Liberals have added to the debt. Lot's of Canadians are having a terrible time putting food on the table and yet this government makes DEI a priority?

It should not be used as a basis for hiring anywhere, certainly not in cabinet positions as Trudeau and Carney have done.

Equality requirements have been in the Canadian government in the many decades I have spent in the Military and government.

The new term of DEI is really just renaming of equality requirements. We have had diversity rules and laws forever.  

It is not one political party or the other and trying to blame Trudeau or Carney is being very narrow minded. Mulroney and Harper applied those rules too.

[I am Groot]

12 minutes ago, ExFlyer said:

Equality requirements have been in the Canadian government in the many decades I have spent in the Military and government.

The new term of DEI is really just renaming of equality requirements. We have had diversity rules and laws forever.  

There is equality, and then there is equity. What the government now practices is equity. That's why we see ads for various public sector jobs that pretty much say only those from certain groups can apply. Within the federal public service, there are quotas for hiring and promoting various minority groups, and executive bonuses are tied to satisfying those quotas.

[Legato]

28 minutes ago, ExFlyer said:

Your quote and link is questions...not a report.

As I posted, and even shady acknowledged, our "protections" are already in existing laws. We have no specific DEI initiatives or rules.

"Canada has DEI initiatives but they differ from U.S. models and are not mandated by a single law, though they are supported by human rights legislation and policies. Instead of quotas, Canadian DEI emphasizes equal opportunity, fair treatment, and preventing discrimination based on protected characteristics, which are legally required."

Yoy said..."So, here are no facts in your post...your link is an American opinion piece with rambling accusations. If you want to claim fact..prove it. LOL"

 So it's not an American opinion piece with rambling accusations.

Which I pointed out.

The facts of the report are in the OP.

More here...

https://www.westernstandard.news/news/ottawa-reveals-104b-in-dei-spending/67589

[ExFlyer]

18 minutes ago, I am Groot said:

There is equality, and then there is equity. What the government now practices is equity. That's why we see ads for various public sector jobs that pretty much say only those from certain groups can apply. Within the federal public service, there are quotas for hiring and promoting various minority groups, and executive bonuses are tied to satisfying those quotas.

Yup. 

It has been using both for decades. I was in the Military in the 70's and there was both being used. Standards were lowered to ensure folks got in. Same went for Public Service entry.

All Provinces have the same processes and procedures and the federal law is applied throughout Canada.

Executive bonuses are not tied to equality and equity.

[ExFlyer]

11 minutes ago, Legato said:

Yoy said..."So, here are no facts in your post...your link is an American opinion piece with rambling accusations. If you want to claim fact..prove it. LOL"

 So it's not an American opinion piece with rambling accusations.

Which I pointed out.

The facts of the report are in the OP.

More here...

https://www.westernstandard.news/news/ottawa-reveals-104b-in-dei-spending/67589

blackturds post and link are American, MSN to be precise.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/jamie-sarkonak-dei-funding-exploded-under-trudeau-so-much-it-can-t-even-be-counted/ar-AA1Sh0hL?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=693d79a0516949aabe36fc3eb7ff0211&ei=9

 

Your link was a question in the house...not proof.

Your new link is not new. As you should know, Canada has had equality and equity laws, rules and regulations for many decades. Nothing is new,

"Canada's core equality rights came into effect with Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on April 17, 1985"

[ironstone]

29 minutes ago, ExFlyer said:

Equality requirements have been in the Canadian government in the many decades I have spent in the Military and government.

The new term of DEI is really just renaming of equality requirements. We have had diversity rules and laws forever.  

It is not one political party or the other and trying to blame Trudeau or Carney is being very narrow minded. Mulroney and Harper applied those rules too.

I would like to think the vast majority of Canadians have no issue with equal opportunity for everyone. But when it is stated that the public service should reflect the diversity of Canada, that's something different. It says so right on the Liberal website. https://liberal.ca/our-platform/improving-diversity-in-the-public-service/

" Diversity, equity and inclusion" brings up 13,993 results on the Government of Canada website.

 

Liberals are often choosing candidates based on gender/ethnicity instead of pure merit. Everyone deserves a fair shot but the deciding factor shouldn't be anything other than merit.

 

[ExFlyer]

5 minutes ago, ironstone said:

I would like to think the vast majority of Canadians have no issue with equal opportunity for everyone. But when it is stated that the public service should reflect the diversity of Canada, that's something different. It says so right on the Liberal website. https://liberal.ca/our-platform/improving-diversity-in-the-public-service/

" Diversity, equity and inclusion" brings up 13,993 results on the Government of Canada website.

 

Liberals are often choosing candidates based on gender/ethnicity instead of pure merit. Everyone deserves a fair shot but the deciding factor shouldn't be anything other than merit.

 

I am not sure why you are "surprised", "shocked" or even "upset" at the governments stand on this. It has been Canada's policy since  "Canada's core equality rights came into effect with Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on April 17, 1985"

There is nothing new about this all.

As for "the public service should reflect the diversity of Canada,", well, you have not been keeping up but that has been government policy for decades. I worked there and saw it happening.

[Legato]

9 minutes ago, ExFlyer said:

blackturds post and link are American, MSN to be precise.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/jamie-sarkonak-dei-funding-exploded-under-trudeau-so-much-it-can-t-even-be-counted/ar-AA1Sh0hL?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=693d79a0516949aabe36fc3eb7ff0211&ei=9

 

Your link was a question in the house...not proof.

Your new link is not new. As you should know, Canada has had equality and equity laws, rules and regulations for many decades. Nothing is new,

"Canada's core equality rights came into effect with Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on April 17, 1985"

Then excessive spending on DEI is new, that's the whole point.

[ironstone]

4 minutes ago, ExFlyer said:

As for "the public service should reflect the diversity of Canada,", well, you have not been keeping up but that has been government policy for decades. I worked there and saw it happening.

I am well aware that it's been government policy for a long time but my point is, it's not good policy. 

[Zeitgeist]

Honestly the Trudeau government weakened Canada in unprecedented ways.  Also, none of this DEI insanity has gone away in Canada.  We still have race-based hiring, ideologically-driven training, and outright irresponsible assumptions about causes and cures that are not fact-based.

The question Canadians should be asking is, Can any Canadian political party reel this in after we essentially empowered radical activists and changed our society demographics to such an extent?   If Canada is that out of control, I’d rather we be part of the U.S.

Edited December 13, 2025 by Zeitgeist

[paxamericana]

4 minutes ago, Zeitgeist said:

If Canada is that out of control, I’d rather we be part of the U.S.

[ExFlyer]

16 minutes ago, Legato said:

Then excessive spending on DEI is new, that's the whole point.

Not really.

The only thing changed is the name. DEI was just equality and equity for the longest time but DEI became popular and that is what it is now.  "The specific term "DEI" and widespread corporate adoption gained significant traction in the 1990s and early 2000s, evolving from earlier affirmative action and anti-discrimination efforts,"

Anyway, we have been spending time, effort and money on diversity and ensuring equality and diversity for many decades. The thing was, questioning it made you a racist and therefore, it was rarely discussed.

12 minutes ago, ironstone said:

I am well aware that it's been government policy for a long time but my point is, it's not good policy. 

Yeah well, we have good and bad policies...depending on your point of view and political leanings.

Both Liberal and Conservatives governments felt it was good policy and that is why it is still there.

[ExFlyer]

8 minutes ago, Zeitgeist said:

Honestly the Trudeau government weakened Canada in unprecedented ways.  Also, none of this DEI insanity has gone away in Canada.  We still have race-based hiring, ideologically-driven training, and outright irresponsible assumptions about causes and cures that are not fact-based.

The question Canadians should be asking is, Can any Canadian political party reel this in after we essentially empowered radical activists and changed our society demographics to such an extent?   If Canada is that out of control, I’d rather we be part of the U.S.

Thing is, this so called "DEI" insanity has been with us since 1985. It has been in effect for every government since then and they all agreed with it.

So, are you actually disagreeing with equality and equity??? 

Now, me, I have strong opinions on it but, having been in the Military and government, I had to comply. Have I seen inequality and inequity as a result...for sure but, saying something only made you an outcast and racist. I have been held back from promotion as some person of colour, language or disability was hired even though I was more qualified. I believe that happens not only in the federal departments but in provincial and even municipal hiring as well. 

Being in the US is the same, well, a little less since Trump, but basically the same.

[Zeitgeist]

23 minutes ago, ExFlyer said:

Not really.

The only thing changed is the name. DEI was just equality and equity for the longest time but DEI became popular and that is what it is now.  "The specific term "DEI" and widespread corporate adoption gained significant traction in the 1990s and early 2000s, evolving from earlier affirmative action and anti-discrimination efforts,"

Anyway, we have been spending time, effort and money on diversity and ensuring equality and diversity for many decades. The thing was, questioning it made you a racist and therefore, it was rarely discussed.

Yeah well, we have good and bad policies...depending on your point of view and political leanings.

Both Liberal and Conservatives governments felt it was good policy and that is why it is still there.

We shifted from a focus on equal rights under the law and changing attitudes through education to a radical form of DEI based on emphasizing the differences between racial and ethnic groups and creating a new form of power imbalance that simply puts minorities at the centre while “de-centering” whites, males, and heterosexuals, in the name of decolonization and destroying the “patriarchy” and “gender normativity”.

The fervour to dismantle presumed systemic racism (beyond discriminatory laws or policies) became amplified following public outrage over the death of George Floyd in 2020.

The U.S. set limits on the excesses of DEI when the Supreme Court ruled against discriminatory admissions policies in 2023.  Canada went in the other direction.

For Canada to persist in financing a highly dubious and often discriminatory DEI bureaucracy in the midst of massive debt and threats to our sovereignty is irresponsible beyond belief.  What’s worse, I’m not sure any Canadian government will reel it in.  The courts are part of the problem in Canada.  Changing the courts through appointments could take decades. 

Edited December 13, 2025 by Zeitgeist

[CDN1]

49 minutes ago, ExFlyer said:

Thing is, this so called "DEI" insanity has been with us since 1985. It has been in effect for every government since then and they all agreed with it.

So, are you actually disagreeing with equality and equity??? 

Now, me, I have strong opinions on it but, having been in the Military and government, I had to comply. Have I seen inequality and inequity as a result...for sure but, saying something only made you an outcast and racist. I have been held back from promotion as some person of colour, language or disability was hired even though I was more qualified. I believe that happens not only in the federal departments but in provincial and even municipal hiring as well. 

Being in the US is the same, well, a little less since Trump, but basically the same.

We had a supermajority White country in the 80s, some additional protections made sense under that context.

What we're seeing today is very different, blatant anti-White systemic discrimination and social engineering while they're actively being radically demographically marginalized & replaced.

Give it another generation and the markers will be undeniable. High rates of suicide, deaths of despair, collapse of birthrates, breakdown of the family and declining household incomes, etc.

This government learned absolutely nothing from the indigenous experience, are now repeating many of the same mistakes, as White Canadians disappear.

Edited December 13, 2025 by CDN1

[ExFlyer]

5 minutes ago, CDN1 said:

We had a supermajority White country in the 80s, some additional protections made sense under that context.

What we're seeing today is very different, blatant anti-White systemic discrimination and social engineering while they're being radically demographically marginalized and replaced.

Whoa dude. You are sounding racist....

Don't know where you grew up but where I lived, both when young and when in the Military, there was a lot of diversity. That is why in 1985 the constitution was amended to ensure we recognized it.

I grew up in Vancouver and there was always a variety of ethnicities and nationalities.