Mark Carney has chance to do good with federal budget

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OTTAWA — The tone for the remainder of Prime Minister Mark Carney's tenure could be set Tuesday.

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Journalists, pundits and politicians were eagerly awaiting the release of Tuesday's budget, the first of Carney's new government and which many believe will set the tone for the rest of his administration.

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“A great budget is about signaling and setting a strategy, and the strategy we need is a strategy to enable private sector growth,” Ontario Chamber of Commerce CEO Daniel Tisch. told Toronto Sun last week.

“It's about breaking down barriers to competitiveness and aggressively investing in infrastructure and talent.”

Debt, interest and expenses are key factors

Three key takeaways from Tuesday's long-awaited budget, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Franco Terrazzanoare debt, interest expenses and expenses.

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“Ignore the noise, ignore the complexity of one budget versus another – just look at how quickly the debt grows,” Terrazzano said Toronto Sun earlier this week.

Canada's annual borrowing will add about $255 billion to Canada's debt over the next four years, according to parliamentary budget officials.

Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau planned to increase the debt by just $131 billion over the same period, according to the latest fall economic statement.

Terrazzano also said the government needs to manage how that debt is serviced.

“(Interest payments) this year will be about $55 billion, so interest payments will cost taxpayers more than $1 billion every week,” he said.

“This is money that can’t be used to improve health care or lower taxes because that money is spent on interest payments.”

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Budget 'ambitious': Carney

Carney called the upcoming budget “ambitious” and “affordable.”

“We will clean up operating expenses, but we will invest in Canada,” he said last week during question period.

Leader of the Opposition Pierre Poilievre called on Carney to backtrack on his “austerity budget” promises, saying Canadians, especially young Canadians, have sacrificed enough.

“The Prime Minister has not kept his promise to spend less, he has doubled the deficit he inherited and now inflation is rising,” Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre told the House of Commons last week.

“Will the prime minister agree with what we are looking for: affordable living for Canadians?”

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