The federal government ran a deficit of $11.8 billion over seven months of its 2019-20 fiscal year compared with a deficit of $2.1 billion in the same period last year. The Finance Department says the deficit came as program expenses climbed $14.8 billion to $211 billion compared with $196.3 billion last year. The bigger spending was due to increases […]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is hoping to apply the same spirit of solidarity that saw Canadians pull together during recent disasters to get things done in a minority Parliament. Parliament returns next week for its first extended sitting since the fall federal election reduced the Liberals to a minority, forcing them to rely on support […]
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heads into 2020 promising to chart a path to Canada’s most ambitious greenhouse-gas emissions target yet: getting to a point within 30 years where Canada is adding no emissions that will stay in the atmosphere. But one of the first things his government has to decide in the new year […]
OTTAWA — Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau is ordering his officials to come up with ways to soon change how Ottawa hands out money to cash-starved provinces, but left the details to be determined in 2020. Energy-rich provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan had put proposals on the table at Tuesday’s finance ministers meeting to expand […]
OTTAWA — Canada’s federal budget deficit will be billions of dollars deeper than it was supposed to be this year and next, according to the Finance Department. The figures released this morning show that the Liberals’ projected deficit of $19.8 billion for the 12-month period that ends in March is now slated to hit $26.6 […]
OTTAWA — Justin Trudeau’s Liberals survived Tuesday their first test of confidence in the House of Commons but got a pointed reminder of how opposition parties can still make life complicated for a minority government. Conservatives mustered the support of other opposition parties to pass a motion calling for the creation of a special parliamentary committee to examine Canada’s […]
OTTAWA — The Liberal government will provide an update on federal finances before MPs head home for the holidays. “Our plan is to have a fiscal update before Christmas so we can update Canadians on the state of the economy,” Finance Minister Bill Morneau said after he took the first step to provide a tax cut the […]
OTTAWA — Justin Trudeau ushered in a new era of minority Liberal rule Thursday with a throne speech brimming with humility, goodwill and promises of collaboration with opposition parties whose support he needs to ensure his government’s survival. The speech from the throne, penned by the Prime Minister’s Office but read by Gov. Gen. Julie […]
OTTAWA — Liberal MP Anthony Rota has been elected Speaker of the House of Commons, beating out fellow Liberal Geoff Regan, who had been Speaker during the last session of Parliament and wanted to continue. Rota’s election is being billed by some as an early sign of how the official Opposition intends to throw its weight […]
Re-elected, newly elected and defeated Liberal MPs will gather Thursday on Parliament Hill for the first time since Canadians clipped the wings of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government in the Oct. 21 election. The two-hour get-together is not a formal caucus meeting, just a chance to congratulate winners and commiserate with losers. Nevertheless, it will […]
