Fed budget: PBO says ‘not much room to increase spending’ [Video]

The federal government has a small margin to increase spending in the upcoming budget without raising taxes, if it plans to stay within the fiscal anchors outlined in the fall economic update, according to Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux.

• Capital Dispatch: Sign up for the latest in federal politics and why it matters

Giroux told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, in an interview airing Sunday, that if the federal government wants to meet those fiscal guardrails, including keeping the deficit at less than one per cent of GDP from 2026 onward, it’s running out of room for new spending.

“But even before the budget, we estimate that the deficit for that year will be at 0.8 per cent of GDP, so that leaves very little room for additional expenditures without increasing taxes,” Giroux said. “It’s probably $6 or $7 billion in room to manoeuver in 2026-27, based on their …