The parliamentary budget officer said Thursday he expects the federal government’s deficit will balloon this year thanks to ramped-up defence spending—but without a spring budget or more clarity from Ottawa, he can’t say for sure.
Yves Giroux, the government’s fiscal watchdog, issued a new economic and fiscal update Thursday that omits the usual deficit projections for future years.
Giroux said in an interview Thursday that the lack of a spring budget leaves him unable to offer a concrete analysis to Parliamentarians about the sustainability of the government’s finances.
“Being the parliamentary budget officer, not having a budget is a big gap,” he said….