Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is promising billions in new spending in the federal budget, while also laying more taxes on the highest earners.
Freeland announced this year’s federal budget inside the House of Commons Tuesday afternoon.
After weeks of teasing many budgetary items, the Liberal government unveiled its plans on how it intends to offset much of the new spending and lower its national deficit over the next five years.
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Freeland promised that the government would abide by the fiscal guardrails, including keeping the national deficit from rising above $40 billion this year.
The liberals expect a stronger economy moving forward and project to bring the deficit down to $20 billion by 2029.
The Liberal government is also going after the highest earners. They aim to increase the capital gains inclusion rate, which refers to the taxable share of profit made on the sale of assets, like houses.
Gains above $250,000 would rise from half to two-thirds, which the federal government says will only affect 0.1 per cent of Canadians, and raise nearly $20 billion in revenue over five years.
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Meanwhile, they’ve already announced ways to help younger Canadians get into the housing market.
Roughly $25 billion was declared in many housing initiatives towards building and renters, more than $10.5 billion for pharmacare, disability benefits, food and child care, and $3.5 billion towards digital infrastructure including safety and AI.
“Today, we say to our younger generation, and to those who care about them, we are putting all the power of government to work for you, we will build more homes, we will make life cost less, we will grow our economy in a way that works for everyone,” Freeland said.
“Together we will unlock the door to the middle class for more Canadians and renew the promise of our great country.”
Among many other expenditures, the Trudeau government is making some cuts as well, including the federal workforce.
They say they will shrink by about 5,000 full-time employees because of “natural attrition” over the next four years, part of an effort to cut costs.
