Targeted spending, deficit reduction to highlight federal budget
Posted Mar 22, 2011 09:35:17 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – The Harper government will unveil the federal budget, Tuesday, starting at 4 p.m.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is set to offer up a stay-the-course document, with a few enticements for the opposition.
The sixth budget of the minority government will also offer limited new spending initiatives.
In orchestrated leaks to the new media, we’ve learned there are plans to entice more doctors and nurses to rural regions of the country, and a reintroduction of the eco-energy home retrofit program at a cost of $400 million — two demands made in pre-budget meetings by the NDP.
Flaherty is expected to focus on deficit reduction to balance the books by 2015, with an additional $3-billion in revenue this year to work with, as the economy has improved generating more tax dollars.
The finance minister will also tout the job creation over the past year and the best debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7.
