Ottawa to present federal budget on April 16

Photo: Adrian Wyld The Canadian Press Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, Chrystia Freeland

The Canadian Press

12:13 p.m.

• Canada

The next federal budget will be presented on Tuesday, April 16, the Ministry of Finance announced on Monday.

The Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, has insisted in recent days on the promise of Justin Trudeau's government to find the right balance between investments aimed at supporting Canadians and a taking “fiscally responsible” action.

“We set out fiscal guidelines in the fall economic statement and we will respect them,” assured the minister regarding the 2024 budget.

To (re)read

What to remember from the fall 2023 federal economic statement ?

The document tabled in the fall to which she referred contains a commitment that the budget to be presented on April 16 will be prepared with the idea of ​​having a deficit for 2023-2024 “equal or less” at $40.1 billion.

This deficit ceiling is equivalent to the projection that was made in the previous budget, that of 2023.

In its fall economic statement, Ottawa reiterated its long-standing goal that the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio gradually declines, but this time added a new component. Thus, the government had established that the 2024 budget should be designed based on achieving, by 2026-2027, a ratio of less than 1% which should then be maintained below this bar.

According to Ms. Freeland, the drug insurance plan recently developed by the Liberals through negotiations with the New Democrats will not cause the federal government to deviate from its fiscal anchors.