Putting Canada on the 'right path': Justin Trudeau touts accomplishments of 1st year in office

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is making the right economic decisions that will put Canada on course for mid- and long-term growth.

Exactly one year since Canadian voters sent a majority Liberal government to Ottawa, Trudeau said his biggest accomplishment so far is "making a dent" in helping the middle class with the Canada Child Benefit.

But during a wide-ranging interview with CBC Radio One's The Current, Trudeau said he has "so many challenges" ahead: growing the economy, fixing the "broken" relationship with Indigenous Canadians and building clean jobs for the future by striking the right balance between protecting the environment and building the economy.

"These are the kinds of balancing acts that are ongoing, and we'll continue to work very hard on them," he told host Anna Maria Tremonti.

Despite disputes with the provinces over a national carbon pricing scheme and health-care funding, Trudeau insisted he is building a "collaborative" relationship with the premiers. He also defended a contentious assertion by Health Minister Jane Philpott that there must be more accountability around how federal health dollars are spent.

"Mr. Harper refused to actually talk with the premiers about health care, just kept sending cheques to the provinces without even checking that the money was being spent on health care," he said.

"We simply want to say yes, we're going to continue to invest in health care, we know it's important for Canadians, but we want to make sure that the federal money invested in health care actually gets spent on health care by the provinces. And I don't think that's unreasonable."

Defending spending

Facing a deficit that is much larger than expected, Trudeau also defended his government's massive spending on infrastructure, insisting it will put Canada on the "right path" for medium and long-term growth.

He said his government has spent more on infrastructure in the first 10 months in office than the Conservatives did in five years.

Trudeau also spoke about Canada's bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, rejecting the notion that it is a "reward" or "prize" but rather a way to ensure Canada's voice is heard around the world and to offer solutions to the world's biggest conflicts.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said Trudeau's Liberal government isn't living up to the promise of delivering "real change," keeping Conservative commitments on health-care funding and greenhouse gas reduction targets instead of making improvements.

"Canadians are starting to pay a bit more attention to the substance of what's happening, and not just the image," he told CBC News in an interview. "I love the change in tone like most Canadians, but now we have to have a substantive change."

One of Trudeau's key campaign promises was to overhaul Canada's electoral system, but in an interview with Le Devoir, he appeared to be backing away from delivering.

Broken electoral reform promise?

Trudeau told the newspaper that Canadians were pushing hard for electoral reform as a way to get rid of a government it did not like — the Conservatives. But now that the Liberals are in office, the "motivation" to change the electoral system is less compelling.

Mulcair suggested the wavering is politically self-serving.

"Justin Trudeau thought our electoral system was broken until it re-elected Justin Trudeau. Now he's starting to say maybe it's not so bad after all," he said. "That's a concern for all Canadians who wanted a more fair electoral system, which is supposed to be what they were delivering. I guess it is going to be another broken promise at this point."

Veteran Conservative MP and former cabinet minister Tony Clement said the Liberals have "gone way over the top in over-exposure." While the "celebrity politics" strategy may be succeeding now, he said it may not weather the test of time.

"Once people figure out that, wow, you're posing with your new socks for Vogue magazine and they can't pay their hydro bills, then the light switch turns off when it comes to celebrity politics," he said.

"That day will come. Not today. It's probably not tomorrow either. But there'll be a time when Canadians want to judge on results."