Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is putting a caveat on orders to his finance minister to spend as needed until the end of the economic crisis caused by COVID-19.
In a mandate letter to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau says she should use “whatever fiscal firepower” is needed over the coming weeks and months until the economy improves.
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But in doing so, Trudeau writes, Freeland must “avoid creating new permanent spending.”
He adds that any plan to regrow the economy must be guided by a budgetary goal to make sure spending doesn’t go adrift.
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The detail is contained in updated mandate letters the Prime Minister’s Office made public today, months after it reset the parliamentary agenda with a late-September throne speech.
In the letters, Trudeau notes the new marching orders add to those laid out to ministers shortly after the Liberals won a minority mandate in the 2019 federal election.
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