The federal government’s latest numbers tell a familiar story: revenues are up, but spending is rising even faster. Between April and June, Ottawa posted a $3.3 billion deficit—slightly larger than the $2.9 billion shortfall in the same period last year. On paper, this may not look catastrophic, but the details reveal a troubling trend.
Revenues climbed by $3.5 billion, thanks in part to Canada’s counter-tariffs on American goods and healthier income tax receipts. In other words, Canadians and Canadian businesses are paying more, and Ottawa is collecting more. Yet, rather than narrowing the gap, the government allowed program expenses to balloon by $5 billion, a 4.6 per cent jump.
What makes this harder to swallow is that debt charges—long seen as the boogeyman of federal finances—actually declined slightly, dropping by $100 million. The Finance Department credited lower interest rates on treasury bills, though that relief was partly offset by costlier long-term bonds. Even net actuarial losses, the complicated accounting items that often weigh down the balance sheet, fell by almost half.
And still, the deficit widened.
This pattern points to a deeper issue: Ottawa isn’t struggling because it lacks revenue, it’s struggling because it can’t control its spending. The temptation to push program costs higher—even in times of rising revenues—seems irresistible. Deficits may be manageable in the short term, but they add up. Every dollar borrowed today is a dollar future taxpayers will owe, with interest.
If the government truly wants to get Canada’s fiscal house in order, it needs discipline on the spending side—not another round of excuses about why deficits are inevitable.
