The Conservative government’s new budget released this afternoon promises to close tax loopholes and contain spending. The aim is to stick with the Harper-Flaherty agenda of wiping out the budget deficit in time for the 2015 election. This stated, Finance Minister Flaherty said he has found new cash for infrastructure spending for and manufacturers. The projected deficit in the fiscal year ending March 31 is roughly in line with Ottawa’s previous forecast in November, at $25.9 billion. The deficit would be about 1.4 percent the size of the economy compared to about 5.6 percent for the U.S. deficit. Revenues have been slammed however as the economy slowed requiring the government to project a bigger-than-expected shortfall in 2013/14 of $18.7 billion compared with a previous estimate of $16.5 billion. The deficit will shrink to a third of that the following year before returning to a surplus of $800 million in 2015/16.
