MNI: Canada Shifting Budget To Fall From Spring Starting Nov 4

Canada will switch to presenting the government's full budget in the fall starting with the one due Nov 4 and move its mid-year update to the spring, Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Monday, adding that it will begin splitting the books into capital and operating accounts.

The announcement comes amid reports the budget deficit for the fiscal year that began April 1 will come in at CAD100 billion or a record in cash terms excluding the pandemic, higher than Mark Carney's campaign platform for about CAD62 billion. Champagne has said a major boost in investment is needed and likened the strain of the current U.S. trade war to reconstruction after World War II. (See MNI: Carney Deficits Are Bulwark Against Big Macklem BOC Cuts)

“The framework will be applied to the federal budget, while preserving comparability across different fiscal publications. It is designed to augment—not replace—existing financial reporting,” according to a government news release. That means the budget will contain the regular figures on the total deficit, a finance department official told reporters. 

The move will also better prepare provincial and municipal governments to prepare their own spring budgets based on federal transfers, the government said.