Ottawa has budgeted an additional $17.5 billion to fight the Omicron variant of COVID-19 over the coming year.
In its latest fiscal update, Canada’s federal government announced that it has set aside $13 billion to help the economy recover from COVID-19, and another $4.5 billion in provisions for any Omicron response that is required.
The new pandemic spending includes $1.7 billion for rapid COVID-19 tests, and $2 billion for COVID therapeutics and treatments. The new money is in addition to the previously announced $6.7 billion being spent by Ottawa to extend the wage, rent and recovery benefits through next spring.
In all, the finance department is forecasting a budget deficit of $144.5 billion for the current fiscal year, which is about $10 billion less than in the spring budget.
Ottawa’s cumulative budget deficit now stands at $327.7 billion, almost $27 billion less than forecast in the spring budget. Revenue has come in $20 billion stronger than expected due to improvements in the labour market, personal incomes and corporate profits, while expenses were $6 billion lower than expected.
When it comes to Canada’s economic growth, Ottawa is touting the importance of immigration to address current labour shortages. The fiscal update earmarks $85 million in the 2022-23 fiscal year to speed up the application process to bring in workers for key industries hit by labour shortages coming out of the global pandemic.
