Former finance minister says Freeland faces tough choices on 2023 budget

The federal Liberal government faces tough choices as it crafts a 2023 budget in a high-interest rate, high-inflation environment, a former finance minister said Thursday.

John Manley, now a senior advisor at Bennett Jones, spoke with BNN Bloomberg about the challenges Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland faces as she crafts a budget that makes good on spending commitments and applies “fiscal restraint” needed to bring down high inflation. 

“She's got some tough decisions to take,” Manley said in a television interview.

Freeland has said she plans to take a “fiscally prudent approach,” but Manley referenced big spending priorities like the promised billions of dollars in health-care transfers to provinces and funding that many see as necessary for Canada to keep up with the U.S. in the transition to a carbon-neutral economy.