On the Canadian Budget of 2025

In Canada, a national budget is passed every year to control the federal government’s spending

for the next fiscal year. Since the budget covers spending for the next fiscal year, it is normally

announced before the budgeting year starts (which is from April 1st to March 31st in Canada),

though, due to Mark Carney being sworn in only a few weeks prior as Prime Minister of Canada,

the development of a new budget was pushed to later in the year.

Historically, budgets have had a “theme” of some sort, which I see as a nice touch. In 2025, the

budget had a theme of “Canada Strong,” and was published on November 4th.

The release of the budget on “budget day” is also a large ordeal. Traditionally, the Minister of

Finance, who helps develop the national budget (François-Philippe Champagne in 2025) wears a

new set of shoes to announce each new budget, to symbolise a fresh start. (This year, according

to a Government of Canada media advisory, the shoes were made in a factory in Saint-Tite, in

Québec, which the Minister of Finance got to tour.) The budget itself is usually only released in

the late afternoon, though, to ensure prompt media coverage and an understanding of the budget,

journalists and professionals are able to get an early look at the budget before it is presented to

the House of Commons. This process is called a “budget lockup,” and once someone is in, they

are forbidden to discuss the budget with anyone outside of the lockup to prevent a leak.

In the budget of 2025, after an “Economic and Fiscal Overview” section, five chapters were

included that focused on:

1. “Building a Stronger Canadian Economy”

2. “Shifting from Reliance to Resilience”

3. “Empowering Canadians”

4. “Protecting Canada’s Sovereignty and Security”

and 5. “Creating a More Efficient and Effective Government.”

In the budget, 1 trillion Canadian Dollars was pledged as a total investment over the next five

years, with a projected 78.3 billion Canadian Dollar deficit. Out of the 1 trillion dollars, the

budget stated that the country looks to spend 115 billion Canadian Dollars on “building major

infrastructure for the 21st century,” though is this truly enough?

[Continued in the part about transportation.]