Our objective is to support a strong economy and employment growth to create the conditions that will permit sustainable balanced budgets. The sound fiscal performance we have achieved in recent years has been a notable improvement over the past. But in the last four years, our fiscal performance has been the best since the early 1960s. But we will face many challenges to sustain this. The federal government, after several years of expenditure cuts combined with strong revenue growth, envisioned growing financial surpluses in the coming years.
Tax cuts figure prominently, as do calls for increased spending.
The very sizable federal debt also remains an issue. We do not foresee growing provincial surpluses at this time. Any fiscal flexibility that arises will be needed to address existing pressures on public services like health care and to maintain lower taxes to ensure continued economic and employment growth. A strong economy is key to sustaining a sound fiscal position. We have prudently managed our finances to be within reach of balanced budgets, but do not forecast the revenue growth needed to create consistent significant surpluses.