Return on fall budget investments will help drive down deficit: Champagne

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says the returns from Ottawa's capital spending plans in the upcoming fall budget will help to pay down the deficit in later years.

He told The Canadian Press in an interview Thursday that borrowing to invest in Canada's productive capacity is the best path to prosperity and economic resilience in the face of U.S. trade disruption.

Shifting the federal government from a focus on operational spending to capital will generate growth and deliver multiplied returns on every dollar invested, Champagne argued.

"That's the whole point," he said.

"That's why we said we'll have a declining deficit over the years … that's why you shift from expenses to investments, because that's where you grow."

Champagne pushed back on concerns raised by Jason Jacques, Ottawa's interim parliamentary budget officer, who told a House of Commons committee earlier this week that he was worried the federal government might no longer have its fiscal anchors.

The finance minister said the Liberals' upcoming budget on Nov. 4 will show a declining deficit-to-GDP ratio and include plans to balance the operating budget in three years, as the Liberals promised during the election campaign.

In the absence of a budget, many fiscal watchers have suggested that the annual deficit has increased since the election, which saw the Liberals promise new spending.

The Conservative party pressed the Liberals to reveal the size of the deficit this week as Parliament began its fall sitting.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced a series of high-ticket spending items since the spring, including plans to meet NATO defence spending targets and new capital investments for infrastructure and housing.

Champagne described the upcoming budget as a "generational" investment and compared it to Canada's efforts to scale up the economy after the Second World War.

He dismissed criticisms of the delay in giving Canadians a look at Ottawa's books. Federal budgets are typically tabled in the spring.

Presenting a budget ahead of June's NATO summit and other major developments since the spring would have been premature, Champagne argued.

"Canadians understand that if you're going to give them the fiscal outlook, I think it was prudent to come with that in November," he said.

Champagne was set to fly to Denmark on Thursday to take part in a summit with European Union finance ministers.

He said the trip is a rare chance for Canada to sit at the table with major European decision makers as Ottawa tries to deepen its ties to Europe's defence and energy supply chains.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld