Key Takeaways from Canada’s 2018-19 Federal Budget

The Trudeau government released its 2018-19 budget Tuesday in Ottawa, with a fiscal track largely in line with what Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau forecast in his last fiscal update in October. One major change is C$7.2 billion ($5.7 billion) less infrastructure spending through 2019, an amount that has been allocated to other departmental spending.

The budget forecasts the deficit will narrow to C$18.1 billion in the fiscal year that begins April 1, from C$19.4 billion in the current year. That’s little changed from the October fiscal update, and there’s still no target date for a return to balance. On a cumulative basis, including risk buffers worth C$3 billion annually, deficits over the six years including 2017-18 are projected to total C$98 billion. That’s little changed from the October forecast.