Finance Minister Bill Morneau. (Canadian Press)

By David Opinko

BREAKING: Canada’s deficit projected to hit $343-billion

Jul 8, 2020 | 12:22 PM

OTTAWA, ONT – The federal government has given a shocking new figure for Canada’s fiscal picture.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau says, for the year ending in March 2021, the deficit will hit a historic $343.2-billion. This is at least $43-billion higher than what private forecast firms had predicted.

The net federal debt will be as high as $1.2-trillion.

He presented a “fiscal snapshot” in the House of Commons Wednesday, which is meant to give a brief picture of the economy and where the federal government stands, rather than a full budget update.

Nearly two-million Canadians remain unemployed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The expected unemployment rate at the end of 2020 is expected to be 9.8 per cent.

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The debt-to-GDP ratio is said to be around 49.1 per cent.

Morneau said this is the greatest period of economic downtown since the Great Depression and high unemployment is expected to continue until at least the end of 2021.

He told Parliament that a full recovery cannot begin in earnest until an effective vaccine or treatment becomes widely available.

Should the country be hit by a second wave of COVID-19 during this fall’s flu season, the Finance Department cited lockdown that would have a “deeper and longer-lasting negative impact on the economy.”

According to the finance minister, one of the government’s priorities during the pandemic is to fix the social and economic gaps that left women, young people, and racialized Canadians to suffer the biggest economic blows.

These demographics saw higher rates of job loss or reduced working hours.

$212-billion in direct federal aid has been given to individuals and businesses as a result of the pandemic.

Some stats on federal emergency aid programs are as follows:

• Three-million jobs have been supported by the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy
• Eight-million Canadians have received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit
• 680,000 small businesses have received interest-free loans through the Canada Emergency Business Account
• 15-million low and modest-income Canadians have received a special GST credit top-up
• 6.7-million seniors who receive Old Age Security pensions will get a supplementary payment this week

More details to come.