Some of the major election promises broken so far by the Trudeau Liberals

The Trudeau government’s announcement Wednesday that it had abandoned a long-held promise to change how Canadians elect their governments drew sharp condemnation from political opponents.

But it’s not the first campaign pledge to be abandoned or broken by the Trudeau Liberals. Here are some of the big ones so far:

— Run deficits of less than $10 billion in each of the first three years of the mandate, still reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio each year and balancing the books in the final year. The Liberals’ inaugural budget projects deficits for at least five years, totalling $113 billion, including almost $30 billion this year alone. The government still hopes to lower the debt-to-GDP ratio over the course of the mandate.

— The tax break for middle-income earners was to be “revenue neutral,” paid for by hiking taxes on the wealthiest one per cent. In fact, it will cost the federal treasury $1.2 billion a year.

— Reduce the small business tax rate to nine per cent from 11 per cent.

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— Maintain funding levels for the Canadian Armed Forces. The government pushed back $3.7 billion for new equipment to 2020.

— Immediately scrap the planned $44-billion purchase of F-35 stealth fighter jets, launch open and transparent competition to replace the current CF-18 fighter jets and reallocate the savings to the navy. The government now proposes to buy a handful of Super Hornet aircraft as a stopgap measure.

— Immediately invest $3 billion over four years to improve home care. This promise is now tied to negotiations with the provinces and territories on a new health accord.

— Cap how much can be claimed through the stock option deduction on annual gains higher than $100,000.

— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s verbal promise to “restore” door-to-door home mail delivery. The government is committed only to stopping any further reduction in home delivery while it conducts a review of Canada Post’s operations.

The Canadian Press