Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne tabled the new Carney government’s first budget on Nov. 4. The budget outlines a deficit of $78.3 billion this fiscal year and projects a debt-to-GDP ratio that will rise but then stabilize over the next few years.
The 406-page budget proposes $90 billion in new net spending over the next five years, and seeks to enable $1 trillion in total investments over the same period through “smarter public spending and stronger capital investment.”
The budget also plans to slash the number of public servants by 40,000 positions by the end of the 2028/2029 fiscal year, which is a 10 percent decrease. The budget says this will happen through “normal attrition through retirements, voluntary departures, and previous savings exercises,” as well as further measures the government is taking to slow spending and return the public service to a “sustainable size.”…