Prime Minister Mark Carney’s minority Liberal government has passed its federal budget in Parliament, avoiding sending Canadians to the polls in the process.
Carney’s government survived a tense confidence vote on the budget, narrowly passing it in a 170-168 vote and staving off what would have been a Christmas election had the vote failed.
The federal Liberals in Ottawa are currently two seats short of a majority government.
Leading up to the vote, both the opposition Bloc Quebecois and Conservative Party had said they would vote against the budget.
This meant that the Liberals needed support from either two opposition Members of Parliament or for four opposition members to abstain from voting in order for the budget to pass.
In the end, two NDP members and two Conservatives abstained from voting on the budget. House Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia also does not vote on such pieces of legislation.
The abstentions allowed the budget to pass in the House of Commons, the lower chamber of Canada’s Parliament.
With the budget passed, Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne is now able to table the budget implementation bill.
The budget prioritizes investments across Canada as the country grapples with a new trade and political relationship with the neighbouring U.S.
Canada’s federal deficit is projected to be $78 billion in the current 2025-26 fiscal year, an increase from the deficit forecast in last year’s fiscal update, which projected it to be $42 billion.
