Carney government to table first budget on Nov. 4
The Liberal government will table the federal budget — the first under Prime Minister Mark Carney — in early November.
During Tuesday's question period, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the federal finances will be introduced on Nov. 4.
The early November date is later than the government had initially indicated. Carney said as early as May that the budget would come in October, and a number of ministers had stuck to that date when talking about the budget in recent days.
Just Monday morning, government House leader Steven MacKinnon indicated the budget would be brought forward next month during a news conference laying out the Liberals' fall agenda.
"The Minister of Finance, Mr. Champagne, will present a budget in October. I will not go into the details of what to expect. The prime minister and the minister of finance have both emphasized the importance of this budget," MacKinnon said.
Federal budgets are usually tabled in the early spring, but the Liberals pushed it to the fall because the House only sat for a few weeks in the spring following April's election.
The Liberals have been signalling they intend to find savings in the federal finances.
Carney and Champagne have asked ministers and departments to find "ambitious savings" and cut regulations. Champagne also asked the public service to review all current and planned federal contracts in an effort to find savings.
The Liberals have signalled they intend to cut government operational spending by 7.5 per cent for the 2026-27 fiscal year, 10 per cent the following year and 15 per cent in 2028-29.
Despite that, the prime minister said Sunday that the deficit "will be bigger than it was last year."
The public hasn't had eyes on the federal finances since December, when the deficit was pegged at $61.9 billion.
Carney pointed to a number of factors when explaining the deficit size, including the U.S. tariffs and subsequent federal supports for impacted industries, the government's commitments to boost NATO spending and the federal income tax cut.
"So, yes, there's going to be implications for the deficit. But it will build a much stronger Canada," Carney told reporters Sunday.
Champagne told reporters Tuesday that the Liberals will distinguish between the government's operational budget and capital investments — indicating that he's looking to find savings in the former while boosting the latter.
"It's going to be very clear," the finance minister said after question period.
"We're going to be rigorous in our expenses so we can be ambitious in our investments. So you want to spend less so you have more capital to invest."
When asked about what potential cuts he is looking at, Champagne said the government will have to make "tough choices."
The Liberals will need the support of at least one other party in the minority Parliament to pass the budget. Budgets are also confidence votes, which means the government will fall if it doesn't pass.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the Liberals for delaying the budget and called on the government to "reverse this reckless Liberal spending."
"Mark Carney is more expensive than [former prime minister] Justin Trudeau. His deficit is even bigger than Justin Trudeau," Poilievre told reporters Tuesday.
"The Liberal government has no idea what it's doing when it introduces a budget two-thirds after the fiscal year is already done."
The Conservative leader didn't rule out supporting the budget, indicating he would wait to see the numbers.
cbc.ca
