Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Sunday that the federal government will present a budget in the autumn.
This announcement comes days after Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne indicated that the new Liberal government would have an economic update later in the year rather than an annual budget in the near term.
Carney’s statement followed a press conference in Rome, where he attended Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration at the Vatican. “There is not much value in trying to rush through a budget in a very narrow window – three weeks – with a new cabinet,” Carney said, explaining the delay. He emphasized that it would be premature to present a budget before the NATO summit in June and before advanced discussions with the United States about their economic partnership.
The government is also exploring areas to reduce costs and improve public sector productivity. “Defence spending, the economic outlook, including the tariff relationship with the United States, and the (government) efficiency… all of those coming together, we will have a much more comprehensive, effective, ambitious, prudent budget in the fall,” Carney said.
Champagne had previously mentioned that 70% of tariffs imposed in retaliation against US tariffs are still in place. This statement came in response to Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre’s claim that Carney had “quietly dropped retaliatory tariffs to ‘nearly zero’ without telling anyone.”
In Rome, Carney also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ahead of the G7 summit in Canada in June.
