‘Targeted’ inflation relief for vulnerable Canadians coming in 2023 budget: Freeland

Ottawa's 2023 budget will include measures to support vulnerable Canadians struggling with high levels of inflation and rising interest rates, Chrystia Freeland teased on Monday.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged on Monday that the Liberals would provide “additional, targeted inflation relief” to vulnerable Canadians in the 2023 federal budget.

But the deputy prime minister also cautioned that Canada finds itself in a “turbulent time in the world economy” and said that the government would avoid “pouring fuel on the fire of inflation” with its fiscal policy for the year ahead.

Freeland made the comments in Oshawa, Ont., where she teed up the government’s spending plans for the 2023 budget, set to be tabled on March 28.

The finance minister spoke about the difficulties facing some Canadians amid rising interest rates and inflation that has cooled as of late but remains well above the Bank of Canada’s two per cent target.

Freeland suggested that the budget will include support for low-income Canadians, but said that the spending plans will still show Ottawa is exercising “fiscal restraint” to avoid stimulating the economy and inadvertently driving inflation higher again.

“For those Canadians who feel the bite of rising prices the most acutely, for our most vulnerable friends and neighbours, our government will deliver additional targeted inflation relief. This support will be narrowly focused and fiscally responsible,” she said.

“What Canadians want right now is for inflation to come down and for interest rates to fall, and that is one of our primary goals in this year’s budget: not to pour fuel on the fire of inflation.”

Freeland said the document will also include the “comprehensive health-care plan” announced by the Liberals last month at a price tag of $198 billion over 10 years.