The Canadian government presented this Thursday a budget project of 452.3 billion Canadian dollars (about 360 billion US dollars) for the fiscal year 2022-2023 focused on reducing the deficit and the cheapening of housing in the country.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has said the budget deficit will reach 52.8 billion Canadian dollars (42 billion US dollars). In 2021-2022, the deficit stood at 113.8 billion Canadian dollars (90,400 US dollars).
Ottawa plans to reduce the budget deficit for fiscal year 2026-2027 to 8.4 billion Canadian dollars (6.7 billion US dollars).
Trudeau recently stated during the presentation of the budget proposal in Parliament that his Government is “absolutely determined” to reduce the proportion of federal debt with respect to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Government’s objective is for this proportion to be 45.1% this fiscal year, 1.4% less than in the previous year, and to reduce it to 41.5% by 2026-2027.
The Trudeau government’s budget proposal, packed into 280 pages compared to nearly 800 in the previous year’s budget, contains only about 31.2 billion Canadian dollars ($24.8 billion) of new spending.
And of that amount, a third is earmarked to make home buying more affordable for Canadians.
In February, the median home price in the country surpassed C$800,000 (US$635,560). The deputy prime minister of Canada, and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, recognized this Thursday when presenting the budgets that with these prices the houses are out of reach for many Canadian families, which is why the Government wants to make the market “fairer”.
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Why limit the purchase for foreigners?
Measures adopted in the budget proposal include policies to limit the impact of foreign buyers who in recent years have made massive investments in the country’s two main real estate markets, Toronto and Vancouver, driving up home prices.
In addition, Ottawa will create a new tax-free investment instrument for the purchase of a first home, as well as policies to encourage the construction of new residences.
Regarding the fight against the climate crisis, the Canadian Government will offer tax incentives for the energy sector to use carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies as well as consumer aid for the purchase of zero-emission vehicles.
EFE
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