Budget Klondike for Trudeau and Freeland

Quite a budget reversal!

Justin Trudeau’s government has just completed the first two months of the current fiscal year 2022-23, i.e. April and May, with an impressive budget surplus of $7 billion.

I remind you that during the previous two years, which were heavily hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the budget picture for the months of April and May showed catastrophic deficits. We were treated to a $21 billion hole in April-May 2021 and an $85 billion crater in April-May 2020.

But this year, it smells like the Klondike!

I am convinced that Justin Trudeau and his Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland cannot believe their eyes to end up with such a remarkably high surplus.

Listen to Olivier Bourque, economic journalist at the microphone of Yasmine Abdefadel on QUB radio:

Better than under Harper

It is also the first time since 2018 that the Trudeau government has presented a budget surplus during the first two months of a fiscal year.

What’s more, the Trudeau-Freeland duo even succeeded in surpassing, by far, the budget surplus of April and May 2015 achieved by the former Conservative government of Stephen Harper, with Joe Oliver as Minister of Finance.

Parenthesis: it must be believed that voters, at the time, did not care royally about this good budgetary performance of the Harper government since it suffered defeat at the hands of Justin Trudeau in November 2015.

Revenue increase

After two years of “financial” war against the COVID-19 pandemic, it is “normal” that the federal government succeeds in restoring public finances at the start of the new fiscal year.

But from there to realizing a spectacular surplus of 7 billion dollars during the months of April and May, a whole “mountain” has been overcome.

In terms of revenue, the country’s solid economic recovery enabled the Trudeau government to collect some $12.1 billion more in revenue in April-May than in April-May 2021. This represents revenue growth around 20.3%.

Where have the biggest increases in revenue been recorded, as a percentage of growth?

Corporate income tax: + 47.2%
Goods and Services Tax (GST): +29.4%
Carbon pollution pricing: +73.1%

Lower expenses

On the other hand, it was obvious that the federal government was going to reduce its spending considerably. And that’s what happened.

Compared to April-May 2021, federal expenses decreased in April-May 2022 by $16 billion.

The main budget reductions are as follows:

Employment insurance benefits: – 53%
COVID support for workers: -96%
Child benefits: -13.7%
Transfers to provinces: -14.8%
Emergency wage subsidy: – 100%

Big Jump in Interest Charges

The strong economic recovery generated inflation, following which interest rates rose sharply.

As the federal debt skyrocketed due to large deficits in the previous two fiscal years of $314 billion (2020-21) and $96 billion (2021-22), rising interest rates sent debt charges skyrocketing. interest on the federal debt.

In just two months, interest charges on the gigantic federal debt have skyrocketed 44.2%, up $1.7 billion.

I remind you that the federal debt currently amounts to no less than 1244 billion dollars.