Canadians will have to wait until the fall budget update to learn how much Ottawa's retaliatory tariffs will cost households and businesses, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Tuesday as business groups criticized a new $7.5 billion federal aid package.“We will publish our estimate when we come to the budget,” Champagne told reporters. “But for the time being I would say with the measures we’re putting forward, this is really about supporting Canada.”Blacklock's Reporter says Parliament is scheduled to return from its summer recess Sept. 21. The government has not announced a date for the budget update.Champagne maintained the government remains committed to a fiscal anchor despite mounting deficits.“Is Canada still committed to a fiscal anchor for its deficit?” a reporter asked.“Oh, yes, we’re committed,” Champagne replied, praising what he called “the fiscal discipline we have shown.”Federal deficit targets, however, have repeatedly been exceeded in recent years.Then-Parliamentary Budget Officer Jason Jacques warned MPs in 2025 that persistent overspending posed a serious problem.“I think as anyone who has managed a household budget knows, if you sit down at the end of the month and you don’t have enough money to pay your bills and it happens month after month after month, you know something is going to break,” Jacques told the Commons government operations committee.“It’s serious.”Cabinet targeted a $39.8 billion deficit in 2024. The final figure was $51.7 billion, or 30% higher.The government's 2025 deficit target was $26.8 billion, while the final figure reached $78.3 billion, or 192% higher. It was the largest federal deficit in Canadian history outside pandemic-era spending.Cabinet initially targeted a $30.8 billion deficit for 2026. Champagne subsequently revised the still-incomplete figure to $65.3 billion, an increase of 112%..Champagne said Ottawa's new $28 billion in retaliatory tariffs on American products are not intended to generate additional government revenue.“This is not about generating revenue,” he said. “This is about protecting our workers, protecting our industry, making sure we have a level playing field.”Cabinet also announced a $7.5 billion package intended to help businesses affected by the Canada-U.S. trade war.Measures include limited grants, Business Development Bank loans and extended Employment Insurance benefits.Canadian Federation of Independent Business president Dan Kelly criticized the package as overly complicated and of limited value to small businesses.“It looks like small business owners are being served the usual alphabet soup of complicated programs,” Kelly said in a statement. “They will be challenging for small business owners to figure out, let alone use.”Canadian Chamber of Commerce CEO Candace Laing also questioned whether additional loans are what businesses need as they struggle with the impact of tariffs.“The intention of loans is helpful but they can also be a monkey on the back,” Laing said.
