Return on fall budget investments will help drive down deficit: Champagne

By Canadian Press on September 18, 2025.

OTTAWA — Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says the returns from Ottawa’s capital spending plans in the upcoming fall budget will help to pay down the deficit in later years.

He tells The Canadian Press that borrowing to invest in Canada’s productive capacity is the best path to prosperity and economic resilience in the face of U.S. trade disruption.

The finance minister describes the Liberals’ upcoming Nov. 4 budget as a “generational” investment and compares it to Canada’s efforts to scale up the economy after the Second World War.

Champagne is also pushing back on the interim parliamentary budget officer’s warning earlier this week that the federal government might no longer have its fiscal anchors.

He says the budget will show a declining deficit-to-GDP ratio and include plans to balance the operating budget in three years.

Champagne is flying to Denmark today after Canada was invited to a summit of European Union finance ministers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2025.

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press