Just in time for QP

Hope the Finance Minister enjoyed the theatre last night. He might not enjoy this afternoon’s show.

Hope the Finance Minister enjoyed the theatre last night. He might not enjoy this afternoon’s show.

The federal government will run a cumulative deficit of roughly $162-billion over five years, or nearly double what Ottawa projected in its most recent budget, economists at Toronto-Dominion Bank said Tuesday. As a result, the government will be nowhere near a return to surplus in 2013-14, as Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in his January budget. According to the TD forecast, Ottawa will record a $19-billion deficit that fiscal year, as opposed to an anticipated $700-million surplus.