OTTAWA - The parliamentary budget officer said Thursday he expects the coming fall budget will reveal a sharp increase in Ottawa's deficit that puts the government's previous fiscal anchors in jeopardy.

Ottawa's fiscal watchdog Jason Jacques now projects the federal government will post an annual deficit of $68.5 billion this year, up from $51.7 billion last year.

He said in a new report that he expects federal debt-to-GDP is no longer on a declining path over the medium term — a ratio that previously was a key fiscal anchor for the federal government.

The office's updated fiscal and economic outlook offers parliamentarians a baseline estimate of the state of federal finances heading into the Liberals' fall budget on Nov. 4.

The PBO's update does not include plans to incrementally ramp

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