Monday December 9, 2024 | NATIONAL
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced today that she will deliver a fall economic statement on Monday December 16.
Fiscal guardrails issued in the spring 2024 economic statement included keeping the federal deficit to no more than $40 billion.
But now spending on spending on border security improvements and NATO defence (including recently for the Arctic) and the upcoming GST tax holiday are likely to push the deficit past the $47 billion that the Parliamentary Budget Officer says the deficit is already at.
The federal Conservatives say the increased spending is inflationary, and today Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in the House of Commons said: “Just stop”.
The 25% tariffs threatened by incoming US President Donald Trump are very likely to cause harm to economies on both sides of the border, according to most economic experts who have weighed in on that scenario.
The fiscal update will provide an indication of the federal government’s finances heading into 2025.
Same day as Premiers news conference:
The December 16 federal economic updates comes on the same day as Canada’s Premiers hosting a national news conference from Toronto.
The fiscal update will likely be delivered in the morning (Eastern Time), followed by the Canada’s Premiers news conference at 3 pm (Eastern), after meeting on December 15 and 16 in Toronto. The premiers are almost certainly likely to focus on the economic challenges for Canada as related to the threat of US tariffs. The Premiers met with Trudeau recently on November 27.
Timelines:
The fall fiscal update usually comes much earlier in the fall season. This year it’s coming just a day before members of Parliament are scheduled to wrap up their business for the year. The delay might be blamed on the long filibuster this fall that has held up regular business in the House of Commons.
The next Bank of Canada interest rate announcement comes up this week on December 11, ahead of the government’s update.
The House of Commons is set to reconvene on January 27, 2025 for a six-month sitting though it may not last that long.
The next federal election is set for October 20, 2025 but could come sooner given the fragility of the Liberal minority which has largely depended upon NDP support since the Supply and Confidence Agreement of March 2022 was ended by the NDP in August 2024.
===== RELATED:
- Canada’s Premiers news conference coming up Dec 16 (December 7, 2024)
- Last interest rate announcement of 2024 coming up December 11 (December 4, 2024)
- Canada’s Premiers discuss border & tariffs with Trudeau (November 27, 2024)
- GST winter tax holiday misses political mark, frustrates businesses, and fails many families (November 23, 2024)
- NDP breaks free of supply and confidence agreement with Liberals (September 4, 2024)
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