Feds to table budget Feb. 27 as Canada faces trade, competitiveness uncertainty
OTTAWA — Finance Minister Bill Morneau will introduce the federal government’s next budget on Feb. 27 as the country faces persistent uncertainty around trade and competitiveness.
With the future clouded by such unknowns, private-sector experts will press Morneau to keep his fiscal powder dry when they gather later this week for their annual pre-budget meeting.
Morneau, who announced the budget date Tuesday in the House of Commons, sits down Friday in Toronto with leading economists at a roundtable that typically includes about a dozen experts from commercial banks, think tanks and trade associations.
Finance ministers routinely call on outside economists for input and forecasts as part of the budget-writing process. Their projections are averaged to create a fiscal foundation for the budget.