Overview
- Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced in the House of Commons on Tuesday that the federal budget will be tabled on Nov. 5.
- The Parliamentary Budget Office report released earlier Tuesday found that short-term boosts to revenue, including higher oil prices, have been consumed by new spending and that projected deficits are about $3-billion higher per year over the next four years than the PBO forecast in June.
- This will be Prime Minister Mark Carney’s second consecutive fall budget following his shift from the traditional spring timetable, a move the government says gives provinces, municipalities and federal departments more time to plan.
- The Nov. 5 tabling comes two days after U.S. midterm elections, a scheduling detail that could affect political optics and media coverage of the fiscal plan.
- Watch for how the government responds to the PBO’s warning in the budget itself, including whether it seeks to cut new spending, find new revenues, or alter program timing and how those choices will affect provincial transfers and federal services.