Canada should be ready for 'generational investment,' Champagne says ahead of budget
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says that "Canada should be prepared for a generational investment" as the federal government tees up its next budget, set to be presented in early November. Meanwhile, the Conservatives are waiting for clarity before deciding on support.
"This is like 1945," Champagne said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that aired Sunday morning. "This is the moment where Canada needs to reinvent itself.... For me, it's more like a down payment in the future prosperity of Canada."
Champagne has spent the last few days laying the groundwork for what is expected to be a costly budget that he argues is necessary for Canada to steer itself away from its reliance on the United States, which still has tariffs on Canadian goods.
"We need to make generational investments in order to be less dependent, more resilient and bring prosperity across our nation," he told host Rosemary Barton.
"People understand that a lot of the costs we have to incur is in direct relation to the changing world economic order that we've seen. Some of these things have not come by choice but because we needed to respond to support our workers."
Prime Minister Mark Carney said last Sunday that the deficit will be "bigger than it was last year."
The public hasn't had its eyes on the federal government's finances since December, when the deficit was pegged at $61.9 billion.
Asked whether the government has any guardrails or fiscal anchors, Champagne said the Liberals will balance operational spending over the next three years, and there will be a declining deficit-to-GDP ratio.
The Liberals have signalled they intend to cut government operational spending by 7.5 per cent for the 2026-27 fiscal year, 10 per cent the following year and 15 per cent in 2028-29.
On Tuesday, interim Parliamentary Budget Officer Jason Jacques told MPs at his first appearance before the government operations and estimates committee: "I don't know if the government currently has fiscal anchors, which of course causes the people we work with considerable concern."
He also said that traditionally, "all is revealed" in that several-hundred-page budget document, but the government is not yet at that stage.
"And at that point, we will have a clear sense of what precisely the fiscal anchors are," Jacques said.
The Nov. 4 date for tabling the budget is later than the government had initially indicated. Carney said as early as May that the budget would come in October, and a number of ministers had stuck to that date when talking about the budget in recent days.
Champagne said that "it was just a better date in terms of the parliamentary calendar so that we give time to parliamentarians then to be able to be in their riding. That was really in line with the work of the House [of Commons]."
Will the Conservatives support the budget?Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer told Barton that his party "looks at everything" before it decides whether to support or oppose legislation — including budgets.
Scheer pointed out that the last Liberal election platform projected the federal deficit would be $62.3 billion in 2025-26, and he believes "it's fair to hold Mark Carney to the standard he set for himself."
That Liberal promise came before U.S. President Donald Trump doubled his steel and aluminum tariffs from all countries to 50 per cent. Canada is the top supplier of both products to the U.S.
When asked whether the $62.3-billion projection is a red line for the Conservatives, Scheer reiterated that the party needs to examine the budget and "make that determination when we can take everything into account."
He also said Carney knew Canada's relationship with the U.S., knew that "the flight of investment in the Canadian economy was already underway," and he still "made that commitment to Canadians on that deficit number."
"I think it's fair to hold him to that," Scheer said.
To get the budget passed, the Liberals will need the co-operation of other parties. On Saturday, Champagne was asked by reporters at a virtual press conference whether the Liberals were courting the support of another party.
In response, he said, "Canadians would expect this Parliament to work together" and "the last thing they would want to see is a Parliament which is divided."
"What we're going to present to Canadians is very much in line with what Canadians have told us," Champagne said. "I would expect the different members of Parliament to send a message that we stand united at a time where we need to step up with character and ambition."
cbc.ca
