OTTAWA — The federal government will be tabling the 2021 budget on April 19, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Tuesday.
The budget is expected to include a full accounting of the state of the country’s finances amid historic spending levels and dire unemployment figures due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.“Canada entered this global pandemic in a strong fiscal position, which allows our government to provide unprecedented support to Canadians. We will continue to do whatever it takes to support Canadians and Canadian businesses, and we have a plan for jobs, and robust growth,” Freeland said during question period.
The 2021 federal budget will be the first official budget the government has issued in two years, after the Liberals called off the March 2020 budget as outbreaks began to worsen nationwide in the early days of the global crisis.In the last budget, which was presented on March 19, 2019, the federal deficit was estimated to be $19.7 billion in the 2020-21 fiscal year. However as of the 2020 fall economic update, that had ballooned to at least $381.6 billion in 2020-21, due to hundreds of billions of dollars in federal pandemic spending.
The fall fiscal figures showed that Canada could sink deeper into the red if outbreaks of COVID-19 worsened and led to extended restrictions, which happened in the months following. In what will be the first federal budget presented by Freeland following the 2020 resignation of former finance minister Bill Morneau, the government has promised more details on a massive economic stimulus plan to rebound from the pandemic-prompted recession.
Depending on the state of the country’s finances the government has signalled they intend to spend roughly three to four per cent of the GDP— $70 to $100 billion between 2021 and 2024 – over the next few years on initiatives such as child care and a green recovery.
With COVID-19 case counts on the rise once again in Canada, it’s possible the key spending document will include more targeted supports for people, businesses, and the health care sector…….
Source: ctvnews.ca
Monday, April 27, 2026
