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Feds preparing to spend up to $100 billion to kick start post-pandemic economy

The federal deficit is likely to be closer to $400 billion because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland delivered the Liberals fall economic statement Monday afternoon (Nov. 30).

Besides a projected deficit of $381 billion she also offered support to parents of school-aged children, $1 billion in spending for long-term care homes, and aid for the tourism and entertainment sectors.

The update was clear that a financial recovery will not begin until deep into next year and the deficit will not return to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2026.

Freeland says now is not the time to turn off the taps of spending and vowed not to make the mistake of the Conservative party following the 2008 recession when stimulus money was withdrawn.

Freeland’s update also tees up work already underway to craft a spring budget focused on an economic recovery. She says federal support for that will include a three-year stimulus plan worth up to $100 billion.

Patrick Siedlecki
Patrick Siedlecki
Pat has been a mainstay in the CJOC News department from the time the station launched in 2007. He's been in the position of News Director since then and has been anchoring daily news casts as well as reporting and working behind the scenes. Community is important to him and keeping CJOC listeners and readers informed about what's happening across southern Alberta and beyond. Pat has been in radio broadcasting for the past 24 years, starting in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1997 and then moving up island to Nanaimo for another few years before heading to Lethbridge in 2007. Pat grew up in the small Saskatchewan farming town of Foam Lake. After high school, he went to Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon prior to moving to the island. Pat also spent several years broadcasting hockey in the BCHL as well as seven years as the radio voice of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Pat has been working at Cornerstone Funeral Home in Lethbridge as a Certified Life Celebrant and Funeral Assistant since 2016. News and sports have always been Pat's passion from the time he was a teenager and he's always been grateful to have had the opportunity to make that part of what's been a fun and long radio career!
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