Deficit soars to $78.3 billion in Carney budget

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 and add billions for national defence, housing and trade-boosting infrastructure, while nearly doubling the need to borrow this year alone.

The plan takes its title from Carney’s campaign slogan “Canada Strong,” and is a long overdue Liberal fiscal blueprint to confront the challenge of American tariffs. It also cuts the fiscal anchors the previous Liberal government touted as recently as last year, opting to trumpet “generational” investments the prime minister has promised would transform the Canadian economy and use Ottawa’s fiscal firepower to spark a huge wave of public and private sector investment.

In a dramatic twist, the Liberals