OTTAWA — Mark Carney’s first budget is an economist’s plan to defend Canada from Donald Trump’s trade aggression, focused on spending that boosts investment and productivity while requiring “fiscal discipline” and the program and civil service job cuts that come with it.

“Canadians understand that we need to push the house in order,” Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne told reporters at a briefing Tuesday before tabling his budget. “Canadians have been tightening their belt for quite some time, and it's quite natural that we do the same at the federal government.”

The plan includes a $78.3-billion deficit for 2025-26 and no balanced budgets in the four years that follow.

Champagne defended it as a fiscally sustainable track, telling reporters the deficit falls within the “range

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