By The Canadian Press on April 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Here are some key numbers from the Liberal government’s federal budget: $535 billion: Total government spending for the 2024-25 financial year. $39.8 billion: The total deficit, just shy of the $40-billion projection in the fall economic statement. $11.5 billion: The amount of new spending this year. $8.5 billion: What’s being spent to spur new housing. $3.87 million: The number of new homes the government says its housing plan will get built by 2031. $2.6 billion: What the Liberals say will go towards “generational fairness” to ease education costs and create new job opportunities for younger Canadians. $19.4 billion: The amount of revenue Ottawa expects to get from five years of targeted changes to capital gains taxes. $1.5 billion: The five-year cost of universal coverage of contraceptives and diabetes medicine and supplies over the next five years. $1.7 billion: What Ottawa thinks it will get in five years from an increase to the excise tax rates for tobacco products. $8.1 billion: The boost to Canada’s defence budget over the next five years. 1.76: The percentage of GDP that defence spending will account for by 2030, still shy of the two per cent NATO target. 50: The number of times the word “fairness” appears in the budget document. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2024. 15