Canada’s federal government in Ottawa will deliver a budget update on November 3.
The update is widely expected to show an improving fiscal picture for Ottawa after heavy deficit
spending during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The federal government, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is trying to balance helping
Canadians with rising consumer prices while not worsening inflation with excessive spending.
In September, the federal government announced a temporary increase in a sales-tax rebate for
low-income Canadians that costs $2.5 billion and a top-up to rental housing benefits estimated
to cost $700 million.
The budget update is not expected to introduce any new programs as the government focuses
on spending restraint at a sensitive time for the national economy.
However, surging government revenues, fueled in large part by taxes on high energy prices, is
forecast to help Ottawa’s finances.
The federal budget deficit declined to $90.2 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31. A year
earlier, Ottawa’s deficit stood at $328 billion due to costly pandemic support programs.
