Kevin Page on debt, deficits and Canada’s hinge moment

The Liberal government recently tabled its second budget — a $151.5 billion plan that the government hopes will boost the economy, ease affordability challenges and even eradicate homelessness. This plan is made possible in part by an unexpected windfall thanks to higher oil prices, but it will still cost Canadians, with the federal government projecting a $62-billion deficit and no plan to balance the books. In this episode, host Michael Serapio talks to economist Kevin Page, the founding president of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Democracy and a former Parliamentary Budget Officer, about the government’s bet at a critical moment in history.

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Read PPF’s statement on Budget 2026.