Liberals will table federal budget Nov. 4, minister says
The Liberal government says it plans to table its long-awaited federal budget on Nov. 4.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne spoke in the House of Commons on Tuesday and made the announcement during question period.
“We’re going to present a great budget in this House on the fourth of November, Mr. Speaker. This is going to be a generational investment in our future. We’re going to build this country, Mr. Speaker, we’re going to protect our communities, we’re going to empower Canadians,” Champagne said in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
“We’re going to build the strongest economy in the G7. We’re going to build this country like never before. We’re going to build the Canada of the 21st century, Mr. Speaker, we are the true north, strong and free.”
The suggested timeline is slightly later than was originally signalled by the Carney government, which was aiming for next month.
While federal budgets are typically tabled in the spring to match the federal government’s fiscal year ending, Prime Minister Mark Carney delayed tabling a budget following the federal election in April.
The specifics of what the budget could contain are not yet clear, but federal leaders, including the prime minister have suggested it will contain a large swath of spending plans that the government says will make Canada’s economy stronger in the long-term, but will add to the deficit in the short-term.
“We have to make significant investments to protect our workers, protect our industry, and now it’s going to be that collective effort we need to make to make sure that Canada is going to resilient in this new world economic order,” Champagne told reporters after question period, citing the ongoing trade war with the United States.
“We’re in the middle of a global trade war. We need to make sure that we make smart investment, and the way to do that is that we say we’re going to be rigorous in our expenses so we can be ambitious in our investment. So you want to spend less so you have more capital to invest.”
Champagne added that the government will be “as transparent as we can be” with Canadians about what programs or services may be cut in the budget.
“Canadians have been tightening their belt for quite some time. It’s only normal that the federal government does the same,” he said.
“This is being more efficient, using technology, reviewing processes, making sure that … we offer services of the 21st century with technology of the 21st century.”
Carney has spoken previously about the need for the budget to utilize taxpayers’ money “carefully,” including reducing the operational budget, while also spending on long-term projects to strengthen the economy.
“The federal government has been growing spending, as a whole, at over seven per cent a year on average for over a decade,” Carney said to reporters at an event in Toronto earlier in September.
“The government needs to spend precious taxpayers’ dollars as carefully as possible.”
In addition to significant spending on supports for domestic industries that have felt the shocks from the trade war and tariffs, Carney has also vowed to increase defence spending to meet new NATO targets.
On Monday, Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon said Canada already has a “deficit issue that needs to be dealt with,” and anticipates that further spending plans in the budget will likely add to the deficit.
At a Liberal cabinet retreat earlier this month, Champagne told reporters there could be job cuts coming to the Government of Canada as part of the Liberals’ plans to reduce its operational budget and “reinvent” the economy like was done after the Second World War.
“We have done it before. Look at 1945, Canada turned completely to be this great industrial nation. We’re going to build on that. We’re going to look at new technology (such as) AI,” Champagne said to reporters.
“There will be adjustment in different places,” Champagne said about the potential for government layoffs.
He added that any potential cost savings will help offset the spending plans in the federal budget.
“We’ll present a budget where you’ll look at operational expenses (going down). But on the other end, you’ll look at capital expenses, that’s where you invest in the future. That’s where you make the country more resilient, and that’s where you grow the economy,” Champagne said.
—With files from Global’s Sean Boynton
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