Several policies regarding interior and domestic issues in Canada were planned and adopted by the Canadian Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, following the October 19, 2015, election of the Liberal Party to a majority of seats in the House of Commons, such as social and environmental policies.

The government's economic policy relied on increased tax revenues to pay for increased government spending. While the government did not balance the budget in its first term, it purported being fiscally responsible by reducing the country's debt-to-GDP ratio every year until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Trudeau's progressive social policy included strong advocacy for feminism and abortion rights, and introduced the right to voluntary euthanasia.

Government environmental policy included introducing new commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% to 45% before 2030, and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The main tool for reaching this target is a federal carbon pricing policy. Parliament also adopted legislation for marine conservation, banning six common single-use plastic products, and strengthening environmental impact assessments. However, the government continued to support oil and gas pipelines to bring Canadian fossil fuel resources to foreign markets.

The government set targets to welcome an increased number of immigrants and refugees. Canada also legalized cannabis for recreational use in 2018. In 2021, Trudeau announced the creation of a national child care plan with the intention of reducing day care fees for parents down to per day per child within five years. Trudeau also revised the Safe Third Country Agreement in 2023, which led to the closing of the unofficial border crossing on Roxham Road.

Economic policy

Infrastructure During the 2015 election campaign, Trudeau said that if made prime minister, he would implement an infrastructure plan worth () in spending over ten years. Following his electoral win, in 2016, the Trudeau announced a 12-year, () infrastructure plan, with a focus on public transport, infrastructure in rural communities and Canada's northern regions, green infrastructure and affordable housing. The Trudeau government also set up the Canada Infrastructure Bank to fund projects.

Shortly before his resignation, Trudeau announced the Alto high speed rail project between Toronto and Quebec City.

Trans-Pacific Partnership During the 2015 election campaign, Trudeau pledged to study the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) before making a final decision on ratification.Asia-Pacific Leaders See Trade as Solution to Economic, Security Troubles T. Moss, The Wall Street Journal, World, November 19, 2015 Trudeau said that Canadians should know what effects TPP would have on different industries, adding that he would hold an open and serious discussion with Canadians.Trudeau shouldn’t be rushed into signing Pacific trade deal: Editorial Editorial, Toronto Star, Opinion, November 23, 2015

After the United States withdrew from the TPP, Canada joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which incorporates most of the provisions of the TPP and which entered into force on December 30, 2018.

Bombardier Trudeau's government provided a CA$372.5 million bailout to Bombardier in February 2017. It was later revealed that Bombardier executives received US$32 million of these funds in bonuses, while laying off 14,500 workers around the world that year. Patrick Pichette, a director of Bombardier Inc., sits as a board member of the Trudeau Foundation.

Taxes Upon entering office, Trudeau's government made some changes to the tax code. A new tax bracket on the top one percent of income earners was created in 2016. Incomes over $200,000 became taxed at 33%. They increased taxes on companies' passive income when it is paid out as dividend. They also limited "the practice of “income sprinkling,” which involves paying income to family members, even if they don't work for the business, so that business owners can avoid paying higher taxes".

In the 2017 Canadian federal budget, excise duties on alcohol were increased by 2%, Uber became subject to the same taxes as taxis; and tax benefits for public transit users, the tourism sector and employers who create childcare spaces were eliminated.

The 2021 Canadian federal budget included a host of new targeted taxes, including taxes on luxury cars, jets or boats, a 1% tax on vacant homes owned by non-Canadian citizens, and a tax on digital services (dubbed the "Netflix tax"). The budget also created a tax on vaping products, and increased the tax on cigarettes.

Social programs

Canada Child Benefit

Canada Child Tax Benefit was eliminated in 2016 and replaced by the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), a tax-free payment targeting low- and middle-income families; those with incomes higher than $150,000 will receive less than the previous system. In 2018-19 benefit year, the CCB payments are up to $6,496 per year per child under the age of 6, and up to $5,481 per year per child aged 6 to 17 in benefit year 2018–19. The CCB is income-dependent; the first income threshold for families to receive Canada Child Benefit is $30,450 and the second threshold is $65,975 in 2018–19. Since its inception, the Canada Child Benefit has lifted about 300,000 of children out of poverty, and has helped reduce child poverty by 40% from 2013 to 2017. The budget for Canada Child Benefit has been increased in 2019, increasing the annual benefit to a maximum of $6,639 for children under 6 and $5,602 for ages 6 through 17, allowing parents to provide more due to the increased cost of living.

Canada Pension Plan reforms

In 2017, Trudeau's government moved to enhance the Canada Pension Plan to provide working Canadians with more income in retirement. These changes were principally motivated by the declining share of the workforce that was covered by an employer defined-benefit pension plan, which had fallen from 48 per cent of men in 1971 to 25 per cent by 2011. They were given additional impetus by moves on the part of the government of Ontario to launch the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan, a supplementary provincial pension plan intended to begin in 2018.

Unlike the existing, or base, CPP, the enhancement to the Canada Pension Plan will be fully funded, meaning that benefits under the enhancement will slowly accrue each year as individuals work and make contributions. Additionally, the enhancement of the Canada Pension Plan will be phased-in over a period of seven years, starting in 2019. When fully mature, the enhanced CPP will provide a replacement rate of one third (33.33 per cent) of covered earnings, up from the quarter (25 per cent) provided prior to the enhancement. Additionally, the maximum amount of income covered by the CPP will increase by 14 per cent by 2025 (projected by the Chief Actuary of Canada to be $79,400 in 2025, compared to the projected normal limit of $69,700 in the same year in the 28th Actuarial Report on the CPP). The combination of the increased replacement rate and increased earnings limit will result in individuals receiving retirement pensions 33 per cent to 50 per cent higher, depending on their earnings across their working years. (The maximum retirement pension will increase by 50 per cent, but will require 40 years of contributions on earnings at the new maximum). Workers earning the 2016 maximum covered wage of $54,900 a year would receive an additional $4,390 annually (approximately $365.83 monthly).

To finance the expanded pensions and maintain the soundness of the plan, contributions to the CPP from workers and their employers will each rise 1 per cent from current levels, to 5.95 per cent over the existing band of covered earnings. This increase will be phased in over 5 years, starting in 2019. The increase to the earnings threshold will be phased in over 2 years, starting in 2024. Workers and their employers will contribute 4 per cent on earnings in this range (which is to say earnings above the normal earnings limit and below the new increased one). To ease the impact of the increased contribution on near-term disposable income, worker contributions will become tax-deductible.

Canadian Dental Care Plan

In the 2022 federal budget, the Trudeau government introduced the Canada Dental Benefit. With this program, the government provides $650 per year in dental coverage until late 2024 for each child under 12 in families with incomes of less than $70,000 a year. The program also allows the government to provide $390 per child per year and $260 per child per year for families with incomes between $70,000 and $79,000 and $80,000 and $89,000 respectively.

$10-a-day child care The 2021 federal budget tabled by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland marked a new era in child care policy, though it built on the earlier Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework agreements. The budget included approximately CA$30 billion over 5 years for a "Canada-wide early learning and child care plan". The funds will "offset the cost of early learning and child care services" towards the creation a national child-care system. The stated goal of the child care plan was to reduce the average cost of child care by 50% by 2022 and to make $10-a-day child care universally available by 2025-26. As child care falls under provincial jurisdiction, his national program required all provinces and territories to sign onto the program. British Columbia was the first province to sign onto the plan in the summer of 2021, but all provinces and territories have now signed onto the plan.

On March 6, 2025, Trudeau announced that a $37 billion, five-year deal had been reached with all provinces and territories except Alberta and Saskatchewan to extend the child care program until 2031, with annual 3% funding increases after new deal's first year in 2026-27. Organizational and logistic issues with starting the program, inflation, and labour shortages meant that at the time of the announcement, only 150,000 of the originally announced 250,000 spots had been created, with the remaining spaces planned to be created within the first year of the new deal.

Budgets

2016 Canadian federal budget

Finance Minister Bill Morneau presented the Canadian federal budget to the House of Commons of Canada on March 22, 2016, reporting a projected deficit of $29.4 billion for the fiscal year 2016-2017 and a reduction in the deficit of $14.3 billion by FY2020. According to the Annual Financial Report of the Government of Canada 2016-2017 the revised deficit was $17.8 billion as of the end of March 2017.

2017 Canadian federal budget

Minister Morneau presented his second budget "Building a Strong Middle Class" on March 22, 2017, in which he projected a deficit of $28.5 billion which risk adjustment of $3 billion. It was adjusted again following the 2017-2018 Annual Financial Report of the Government of Canada to $19.0 billion. A "retroactive change" was made to the accounting "methodology for the determination of the discount rate for unfunded pension obligations". As a result of this change in auditing, revisions were recommended by the Auditor General for budget numbers from 2006 through 2016. What had been reported as a small surplus in FY 2014–15, was audited as a small deficit with these retroactive changes.

2018 Canadian federal budget

Minister Morneau presented the FY 2018–2019 budget which projected a deficit of $18.1 billion. The 2018-2019 Annual Financial Report of the Government of Canada revised the deficit to $14.0 billion. The government also announced the Canada Summer Jobs program in 2018.

2019 Canadian federal budget