Canadian Budget for ‘91-92 Seeks to Tackle Recession

Canada’s Conservative government announced Monday that it would introduce a new budget next week in an attempt to draw the country out of a steep recession.

“The primary objective of the budget is to do things that will encourage a turnaround in the economy,” Finance Minister Michael Wilson told reporters after emerging from a meeting of the ruling party.

Wilson said that because of the downturn, the budget set for Feb. 26 has been his most challenging since being appointed finance minister in Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s government in 1984.

“This has been the most difficult budget to prepare and I think we have put together a good package of policies that respond to the challenges that the country is facing--the principal one being the weakness in the economy,” Wilson said.

There have been calls from some groups for increased spending to boost the economy.

But Wilson said the budget for the 1991-92 fiscal year would continue past efforts to keep the deficit under control.

In previous budgets Wilson has been criticized for introducing a host of new taxes.

Those new levies include the 7% goods and services tax that took effect in January.

Wilson recently estimated the deficit would total $26 billion ($30 billion Canadian) in the fiscal year ending March 31.

That estimate was an increase from the finance minister’s forecast of $24.7 billion ($28.5 billion Canadian) made in the budget last year.