Key question on budget decisions, says Morneau: Do they grow the economy?
OTTAWA — Any new spending measures being pitched for the federal budget will have to demonstrate potential to help grow the economy if they expect to find favour with the Liberal government, Canada’s finance minister says.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Bill Morneau said that as he crafts his second budget as finance minister, the economic-growth test is the first of multiple screens he is using to ensure debt levels don’t spiral out of control.
Too late, the opposition parties might jeer.
The Liberals used up a lot of their fiscal wiggle room this week with a fall economic update that included $32 billion in infrastructure spending over the next 11 years, accompanied by an equivalent amount of red ink on the federal books.