Overview

• Pre-budget consultations opened July 14 and will run until August 28 on Canada.ca/YourBudget to gather Canadians’ views on cost relief, economic priorities and national security funding.
• Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne is seeking feedback on measures to lower living costs, including a proposed middle-class tax cut and GST removal on first homes for first-time buyers.
• The consultation process emphasizes job creation by soliciting ideas on accelerating home building, expediting nation-building projects and bolstering Canada’s defence industrial capacity.
• Last week Champagne directed most cabinet ministers to plan program spending cuts of 7.5 percent starting next spring, rising to 15 percent over three years to fund new investments.
• The shift to a fall budget under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s corporate-style governance model allows extended stakeholder engagement and thorough fiscal planning.