Five things to know about the Liberal government’s 2017-2018 budget
OTTAWA — Five things to know about the Liberals government’s 2017-18 budget:
1. There’s no plan to balance it. The Liberal government continues to push for increased spending — though not a lot of it in this document — as the main driver for economic growth in Canada and as such, they don’t have a plan for when they’ll wrestle down the deficit.
2.That deficit is shrinking, though. It stands now at $23 billion, down from $25.1 billion in the last fiscal update, and while it’s projected to reach $25.5 billion for 2017-18 — not including a $3 billion contingency fund — it declines to $15.8 billion in 2021-22.
3.The cupboard is bare, for now. The budget’s light on spending and long on vision — most of the new money it proposes doesn’t kick in until the next fiscal year, co-incidentally the same one that will precede the next federal election.