Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned rather than deliver the Trudeau government's Fall Economic Statement, which shows a federal deficit 50% higher than the $40.1 Billion "fiscal guidepost" Freeland had committed to in the spring Budget.
Government still planning to unveil economic statement despite Freeland's resignation | CBC News | Karina Roman:
December 16, 2024 - ""The federal government is still planning to unveil its long-awaited fall economic statement (FES) today — putting to rest weeks of speculation about a higher-than-projected deficit and the potential failure of other fiscal 'anchors' Ottawa claimed would keep its budget on track. The government's plans for the FES were thrown into chaos this morning when Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced she would resign from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet....
"Just last spring, in her Budget 2024 speech, Freeland laid out three 'fiscal guideposts' she said would demonstrate the government's continuing commitment to fiscal responsibility. The first was a promise to keep the 2023-24 deficit at or below $40.1 billion. Last week, Freeland would no longer commit to meeting that target."
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/fall-economic-statement-freeland-deficit-1.7410406
Federal deficit climbs to $61.9B as Freeland resigns | CBC News: The National | December 16, 2024:
Federal deficit balloons to $61.9B as government tables economic update on chaotic day in Ottawa | CBC News | Catharine Tunney:
December 17, 2024 - "The federal government tabled a fall economic statement Monday that calls for more than $20 billion in new spending and explains how last fiscal year's deficit ballooned to $61.9 billion — but it was Chrystia Freeland's abrupt resignation as finance minister and her questioning of her own government's economic policy that sent Canadian politics into a frenzy....
"Freeland, who was meant to deliver the statement, resigned from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet just as reporters and stakeholders were headed to a media lockup to view the document.... Government House leader Karina Gould ended up tabling the fall economic statement in the House of Commons on Monday afternoon just after 4p.m. ET. By dinner time in Ottawa, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc had been sworn in as the new finance minister.
"Along with showing that the federal government blew its own deficit target by more than $20 billion, the document — overseen by Freeland before her resignation — includes ... $1.3 billion for a border security package over six years ... although the 270-page document doesn't explain exactly how that money will be spent. The government is also earmarking billions of dollars to boost Canadian businesses amid global uncertainty....
"Freeland's resignation letter suggests she did not agree with her boss on how to tackle those challenges.... She also took a parting shot at her boss's handling of the country's economy, denouncing what she called the government's 'costly political gimmicks' and imploring him to work collaboratively with the country's premiers to confront Trump['s] tariff threat....
"In her spring Budget 2024 speech, Freeland laid out guideposts she said would demonstrate the government's continuing commitment to fiscal responsibility. The first was a promise to keep the 2023-24 deficit at or below $40 billion. The federal government has blown past that benchmark; Monday's update posts a deficit of nearly $62 billion for last fiscal year. [Given an inflation rate of at least 1.7%, a $61.9 billion deficit will add more than $1 billion a year to debt interest charges. - gd]
"The federal government says the 2023-24 spike is due to one-time costs, including $16.4 billion related to Indigenous claims playing out in court and $4.7 billion related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The deficit is projected to dip down to $48.3 billion for this current fiscal year."
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/fall-economic-update-freeland-trudeau-1.7411825
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