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2008 Canadian federal budget

2008 (2008) Budget of the Canadian Federal Government
PresentedFebruary 27, 2008
Parliament39th
PartyConservative
Finance ministerJim Flaherty
Total revenueC$236.4 billion[1]‡
Total expendituresC$237.4 billion[1]
Program SpendingC$206.76 billion[1]
Debt paymentC$30.7 billion[1]
DeficitC$5.8 billion[2]
DebtC$458.7 billion[1]
Websitehttp://www.budget.gc.ca/2008/pdf/plan-eng.pdf Responsible Leadership
‡Numbers in italics are projections.
‹ 2007
2009›

The Canadian federal budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year was presented to the House of Commons of Canada by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on February 26, 2008.[3]

The budget included a surplus of $10.2 billion to be applied to pay down federal debt, and the introduction of the Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA).[4] The government announced there would be little to no new tax breaks as major tax cuts took place in the economic update during the fall of 2007 in anticipation of economic slowdowns in 2008. It was to be the last budget of the Conservative government's first term in office.[5]

The budget was deemed ordinary and uncontroversial by the press. The Liberal party had pledged not to push for an election in the spring of 2008, and so guaranteed their support for the budget. The Bloc Québécois had submitted a long list of budgetary demands to be met, which effectively eliminated them from budget negotiations. They voted against the budget.[6]

  1. ^ a b c d e Department of Finance Canada (January 27, 2009). "Canada's Economic Action Plan: Budget 2009" (PDF). Department of Finance Canada. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 13, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  2. ^ "Canada's deficits and surpluses, 1963-2014". CBC News. CBC/Radio-Canada. 18 March 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  3. ^ "CBC News In Depth: Federal Budget 2008". cbc.ca. 2008-02-26. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
  4. ^ "Small change for tighter times". The Globe and Mail. 2008-02-27. Archived from the original on 18 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
  5. ^ CBC News (2008-02-11). "Federal budget to come down Feb. 26". CBC. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  6. ^ Marissal, Vincent (February 27, 2008). "Sans surprise et sans conséquences". La Presse.

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