I personally think that is very optimistic.
Stephen Gordon muses about deficits:
That's my fear, that the government will try to please every narrow special interest group in sight, ballooning the deficit without benefiting ordinary Canadians.problem for Morneau and the Liberals is that this is not a temporary downturn, and it would be irresponsible in the extreme to make tax and spending plans for the next four years based on the assumption that the economy will suddenly roar to life five or six years from now. A lower trajectory for revenues will have to be accompanied with a combination of tax increases that were higher than what they promised, or spending restraint more severe than what was in their platform. (It’s also worth remembering that these savings were to be on top of the spending restraint that was baked into the Conservatives’ last budget.)
This timing is unfortunate for the Liberals. Abandoning a balanced budget has removed the first line of defense against the wave of interest groups that had lobbied in vain for extra funding from the former Conservative government. They are even less likely to accept with grace arguments about fiscal restraint from a Liberal government that campaigned on running a deficit.
Here's a surprise:
GeorgeThe federal finance minister blamed the weak economy on the previous Conservative government.
"After 10 years of weak growth, Band-Aid solutions, and inaction from the previous government, Canada's economy was simply too vulnerable when faced with a combination of the drop in oil prices and economic uncertainty around the world," Morneau said in Ottawa Monday.