MNI BRIEF: Champagne Unfazed By CAD90B Deficit For NATO Goal

Canada's Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne on Monday responded to an opposition question at a committee hearing about Canada's deficit reaching CAD90 billion to meet a higher NATO target by saying: “Are you suggesting that we should not meet our NATO commitments?”

The comment comes ahead of a budget due Nov. 4 for a fiscal year that began April 1. The Liberal Party platform ahead of the April 28 election that brought Mark Carney to power called for a deficit of about CAD62 billion. Champagne has previously also said this budget needs a "generational investment" responding to U.S. trade protectionism. (See: MNI: Canada Approved CAD95B Geopolitical Contingency Borrowing)

He declined to answer several other direct questions Monday about the size of the deficit, which at CAD90 billion would be a cash record outside of the pandemic.