Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne tabled his government’s 2026 budget on Nov. 5, which includes $142 billion in new spending over the next five years with the goal of spurring economic growth and addressing affordability issues.
The budget includes $36 billion for the new Productivity Mega Deduction program that allows businesses to write off the cost of investments, $43.5 billion in support for individuals and businesses affected by U.S. tariffs, $11.2 billion to tackle homelessness, new increases to GST rebates to help with cost-of-living issues, and large expenditure in Canadian arts and culture programs.
The federal government is projecting that the deficit for the 2026-27 fiscal year will be $62.3 billion, which is $3 billion lower than it predicted it would be in the spring economic update. Ottawa projects that the deficit will decrease to $52.9 billion by 2030-31. Government revenues have been buoyed thanks largely to higher oil prices….