[BLOOMBERG] Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will run deficits totaling almost C$120 billion ($91.7 billion) over six years, offering some stimulus to Canada’s struggling economy while trying to exercise restraint.Next election he'll be touted as just the man to rescue the Great White North's tanking economy.
Trudeau’s government will add C$11 billion in annual spending for the fiscal year that begins April 1, which will result in a projected deficit of C$29.4 billion for the coming year. The federal budget offers no projected return to balance over five years.
That cumulative deficit, which far exceeds what Trudeau promised in last year’s election campaign, stems from the worsening outlook his Liberals inherited even as they rejected calls for major new stimulus. It also marks a shift for Canada, which was home to an anti-deficit orthodoxy for three decades.
"Our plan is reasonable and affordable," Finance Minister Bill Morneau said in his budget speech Tuesday, which focused heavily on new spending measures. "Today, we are seizing the opportunity to invest in people and the economy, and to prepare Canada for a brighter future."
Trudeau had faced calls from some economists for even more new spending in order to take advantage of interest rates that are near historic lows as monetary policy loses its bite. While the measures detailed Tuesday are forecast to give gross domestic product a 0.5 percent bump in 2016, the Liberals steered clear of loftier deficits.