Our readers’ biggest questions about the federal budget, answered

On Nov. 5, deputy Ottawa bureau chief Bill Curry, economics reporter Mark Rendell and reporter Jason Kirby answered reader questions on Mark Carney’s first budget as prime minister, and what it means for Canadians.

Both Mr. Carney and Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne billed the new budget as a “generational” shift aimed at forcing a fundamental retooling of the Canadian economy, with a deficit amounting to $78.3-billion in the 2025-2026 fiscal year, and plans to reduce the amount of federal public service employees, increase defence spending and get the corporate world spending again.