Conservatives unlikely to meet deficit targets
Watchdog sees one in 10 chance government will keep balanced budget promise
Chances that the Conservative government of Stephen Harper will be able to keep its elections pledge of balancing the budget by 2014-2015 look slim, the Parliamentary Budget Office said in a report, as well as a number of private-sector economists. At fault is the slowing pace of the Canadian economy, whose growth prospects have been revised down by the PBO. The Office now expects Ottawa to run a deficit of $18.7 billion in 2014-2015, $13.1-billion the following fiscal year and $7.3-billion in 2016-2017.
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