Carney teases what's coming in the federal budget

We're focused on affordability. We're focused on opportunity. We're focused on sovereignty for Canada, more independence. We can live our lives as we choose. The theme of this budget will continue to be a transformation of the economy to make it more resilient and less reliant on any one trading partner. Of course, this is all being planned in the context of the trade war that's ongoing with the U.S. And the prime minister has made it clear that no matter what happens with trade negotiations in the coming weeks, in the coming years with the United States, that Canada needs to focus on what it can control in terms of making this economy more resilient, strengthening it through investments with major projects, addressing affordability, and attracting foreign investment as well. These are all priorities of the government that we've heard before. And affordability is a major issue in this country, of course, with Statistics Canada reporting that wages are simply not keeping up with consumer prices. And food banks are at an all-time record high in this country as well, food bank usage. So this remains a major concern, a major issue for For this government to have to deal with, and we are hearing strong calls from the opposition parties for the federal government to get a handle on this situation. The government has made some attempts, such as suspending the federal gas tax, but not nearly enough to address this issue for Canadians who are still struggling to make ends meet. We've been very clear. This is all about growth. This is about affordability, making sure that we focus also on our sovereignty. Canadians will see themselves in this budget. This is a budget for them. This is a... A budget that will make us masters. So one of the things we are watching out for, of course, is how big the deficit will be. In the spring economic update, the government projected the deficit to be around $75 billion. But thanks to rising oil prices and more of these revenues coming in to the federal government, the Parliamentary Budget Office now estimates that the deficit will be around $63 billion, but then go back up to $70 billion by next year. Now, we are expecting these numbers to potentially change once we see the document, and that's largely because of more government spending. to deal with things like the trade war. So this is something to watch out for. The prime minister has made a change to basically split the budget. So there's a capital budget for big major projects. And then there's the operational budget for day-to-day government spending. It is expected that we will see a plan in this budget to balance that operational budget. So that's something to watch out for. But what we are hearing overall from opposition parties is that they want to see the government rein in spending even more, especially since the budget is expected to- remain so high.