What do you hope to see in the federal budget?
Finance Minister Bill Morneau to introduce Liberal government's 1st budget tomorrow
The Liberal government will unveil its first budget Tuesday in Ottawa.
The government has promised to borrow heavily to finance new infrastructure spending, but how fast the money will roll out and where initial spending will be focused remain a matter of conjecture.
The deficit, according to Finance Minister Bill Morneau, has already ballooned to $18.4 billion before any new budgetary spending is announced, leading to expectations that the Liberals' promised $10-billion shortfall will be closer to $30 billion in 2016-17.
Other highlights expected to be announced include a promised $22-billion Canada child benefit, a lowered eligibility age for Old Age Security and the elimination of some programs favoured by the previous Conservative government.
What announcements are you looking forward to — or dreading?
What do you want to see in the budget?
Readers let us know in the latest CBC Forum — a live, hosted discussion about topics of national interest. Here's a look at some of the spending — or lack of spending — they are hoping for.
(Please note that user names are not necessarily the names of commenters. Some comments have been altered to correct spelling and to conform to CBC style. Click on the user name to see the comment in the blog format.)
"I hope to see something about lower tuition and more student loans or grants for students. It's not enough now with the cost of living, and an increase would be really nice." — Lachlan
"I would like to see something for seniors. Let us use our RRSP money — say, 5,000 to 10,000 dollar for dollar — for medical. Hearing aids, dentistry, vision. These costs are very expensive and we suffer. To purchase hearing aids for $5,000 we need to cash in close to $8,000 in locked-up money." — Paul
"I really want to see additional funding for infrastructure and mental health. These two topics seem unrelated, but the reality is both involve investing in the country now so that Canada is a better place tomorrow. Our mental-health system is causing thousands … to slip through the cracks and live in perpetual poverty. Infrastructure is a similar case: we need to keep our roads, railways, waterways et al working the same or better than our standard today. If not, we will fail to meet our potential as a nation." — Matt
"I would like to see money spent on building a sustainable national mental-health system that is evidence-based. At present there is underfunding, or funding for mental health is treated like the destitute cousin of physical health." — David Butler
"I'd like to see what they will do for the Armed Forces. Their equipment is antiquated or gone. We owe it to them to provide the tools they need to do the job." — Thinkifucan
"I'd love to see a balanced budget ensuring my taxes never increase. Can this government ever do that? Not in a million years with this plan." — Dayton Funk
"I would like to see a deficit my unborn grandchildren will not still be paying. More realistically, I'd like to see an elimination of GST or HST on books, magazines and other reading material." — Andrew of Richmond
"It's definitely time for a guaranteed minimum income. If we could just see this one item implemented, it would solve many problems for families who are severely struggling to remain off of the homeless list." — Sean Henley
"I would like to see an increase in the GST or personal income tax to pay for the budget. I would prefer we pay for it now and not put it on the back of our children and grandchildren." — tomsbeard@outlook.com
With files from The Canadian Press