TORONTO, March 27 (Reuters) - Canada's Liberal government
believes the federal budget will be balanced in "about" five
years due to higher growth spurred by deficit spending, Finance
Minister Bill Morneau said on Sunday.
Speaking on CTV's "Question Period" political news show,
Morneau said the budget unveiled on March 22 will bring economic
growth that the government hopes will eventually cancel out the
C$17.7 billion ($13.34 billion) deficit projected for 2019-20,
the fiscal year by which the Liberals promised to return to
surplus.
"We believe the growth will be higher, and we believe that
we will be able to get into a balanced budget in about the
five-year timeframe," he said.
In the election last year, the Liberals campaigned on
running three years of deficits of up to C$10 billion before
balancing the books by fiscal 2019-20. But the current budget
projected a C$29.4 billion ($22.5 billion) deficit for 2016-17,
nearly three times higher than what was promised.
The budget includes C$3.97 billion in infrastructure
spending for the coming fiscal year, a major plank of the
Liberal campaign.
The government gave no target date for eliminating the
deficit when it unveiled the budget. Morneau had said the
Liberals would be able to balance the books in five years only
if the stimulus generated growth at the top range of forecasts.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the Canadian Broadcasting
Corp the year by which the budget will be balanced "depends
entirely" on growth. = 1.3273 Canadian dollars)