OTTAWA — Liberal House Leader Karina Gould has tabled the government’s fall economic statement in the House of Commons.
The autumn budget update includes some new measures to encourage business investment and beef up border security ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House next month.
But the resignation of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has ignited significant uncertainty over Canada’s economic and fiscal outlook.
Freeland shocked the political world this morning when she announced her sudden resignation after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told her Friday he was moving her out of the finance portfolio and offering her another role in cabinet.
She oversaw the development of the fall fiscal update but did not table it or deliver the planned speech in the House of Commons.
Her speech was scrubbed from documents provided to reporters ahead of the document’s release.
The document shows a much larger deficit than expected for the fiscal year that ended last March because of billions of dollars the government expects to pay for Indigenous legal claims and pandemic-related benefits and loans it doesn’t expect to recover.
The deficit for 2023-24 came in at $61.9 billion, almost $22 billion more than forecast when the government delivered its budget last spring.
The deficit is projected to fall to $48.3 billion for the current fiscal year.
Among the highlights of new measures included in the plan is a decision to reinstate a temporary change to the capital cost allowance, which allows businesses to make larger tax deductions for capital costs up front.
The measure aims to bolter business investment in Canada as Trump promises tax cuts in the U.S. It is expected to cost the federal government $17.4 billion over six years.
Calls for Trudeau’s resignation erupted since Freeland’s resignation this morning, including from Liberal MPs and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, raising the odds of an early election.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc will be sworn in as finance minister this afternoon, a senior government official has confirmed.
The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the appointment, said LeBlanc would be sworn in as finance minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall at 4 p.m. and that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would be present.
©2024 The Canadian Press
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