Finance Minister Bill Morneau says deficits over the next five years will be a total of $31.8 billion bigger than projected in the last budget, mainly because of slow economic growth.
In his fall economic statement tabled Tuesday, Morneau also says he will create an infrastructure bank with $35 billion in seed capital, meant to leverage private-sector investment and spur growth.
The statement contained very little in new spending, as is normal for a fall update of the country’s books.
The updated figures show that the deficit this year will be $25 billion — slightly larger than the $23 billion projected in last spring’s budget, not including the reserve set aside for rainy days.
The deficit is expected to get fatter in 2017-18, expanding to almost $28-billion.
For now, the government has eliminated the $6-billion contingency fund that was set aside for every year in last year’s budget to deal with unexpected problems, a move that makes the government’s deficit figures seem slimmer.
