Budget Set to be Released – Again

Derailed by the election, the federal budget will finally get to make its way through Parliament.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will release the 2011-12 federal budget today, which will be all but a facsimile of the one introduced in March that died a legislative death when the election was called. Since the Tories now have a majority, the modest document, sprinkled with a few boutique tax credits, will sail right through the House of Commons with the aim of phasing out Canada's deficit by 2015 by finding $4 billion in savings ... somewhere. One of the few new changes will be a plan to end the $2-per-vote subsidy over the next few years to wean political parties off public financing.