The Canadian government presented a budget proposal of 452.3 billion Canadian dollars (about 360 billion US dollars) for the fiscal year 2022-2023 focused on reducing the deficit and making housing cheaper in the country.
The government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated that the budget deficit will reach 52.8 billion Canadian dollars (42 billion US dollars). In 2021-2022, the deficit stood at 113.8 billion Canadian dollars (90.4 billion US dollars).
Ottawa anticipates reducing the budget deficit to 8.4 billion Canadian dollars (6.7 billion US dollars) for the 2026-2027 fiscal year.
Trudeau recently stated during the presentation of the budget proposal to Parliament that his government is "absolutely determined" to reduce the ratio of federal debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The government's goal is for that ratio to be at 45.1% this fiscal year, 1.4 percentage points lower than the previous year, and to decrease to 41.5% by 2026-2027.
The Trudeau government's proposed budget, 280 pages long compared to the nearly 800 pages of the previous year's budget, contains only about 31.2 billion Canadian dollars (24.8 billion US dollars) in new spending.
And of that amount, a third is earmarked for making homeownership more affordable for Canadians.
In February, the average price of a home in the country exceeded 800,000 Canadian dollars (635,560 US dollars). Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, acknowledged this Thursday when presenting the budget that at these prices, homes are out of reach for many Canadian families, and that the government wants to make the market "fairer."
Why are they limiting purchases for foreigners?
Among the measures adopted in the budget proposal are policies to limit the impact of foreign buyers who in recent years have made massive investments in the country's two main real estate markets, Toronto and Vancouver, driving up housing prices.
In addition, Ottawa will create a new tax-free investment instrument for first-time home purchases, as well as policies to incentivize the construction of new residences.
Regarding the fight against the climate crisis, the Canadian Government will offer tax incentives for the energy sector to use carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies, as well as consumer aid for the purchase of zero-emission vehicles.
EFE
