OTTAWA – The Mark Carney government is betting its political fortune on a $581-billion budget that will slash the ranks of the federal public service, add billions for new housing, hospitals, ports and defence, while nearly doubling the need to borrow this year alone.

The plan, titled the same as Carney’s campaign slogan “Canada Strong”, is a long overdue Liberal fiscal blueprint to confront the challenge of American tariffs. It’s also the first public accounting of the “austerity” and “investment” the prime minister has promised will transform the Canadian economy and train Ottawa’s fiscal firepower towards the creation of new public and private sector investment.

But whether the budget even passes is now up to opposition parties, as Carney’s minority government stakes its survival on

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