Canada's 2026 Budget Projects $62.3 Billion Deficit and New Grocery Benefit

Canada's Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne tabled the federal budget on Thursday, November 5, 2026. The budget projects a deficit of $62.3 billion for the 2026-27 fiscal year, which is about $3 billion lower than the spring economic update forecast.

The government proposes a one-time 50 percent increase in the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit for the 2026-27 benefit year. Payments are expected in early 2027 and would provide up to $339 for eligible single people without children and up to $679 for couples with two children.

“Millions of Canadians could receive another one-time grocery benefit payment early next year under a federal budget that projects a $62.3-billion deficit in 2026-27.”

The grocery benefit supplement would provide an estimated $4.1 billion in additional support to more than 12 million Canadians with low and modest incomes. Combined with earlier measures, total support for the benefit year would reach approximately $1,290 for an eligible single person without children and $2,570 for a couple with two children.

The budget also includes spending and financing commitments for housing, infrastructure, energy, critical minerals, defence and Indigenous communities. It incorporates more than $2 billion over eight years for the National Heat Pump Rebate Program, intended to help as many as 820,000 households install heat pumps.

Other measures include the temporary suspension of the federal fuel excise tax and an income tax rate reduction that the government says benefits nearly 22 million Canadians. GST relief is also included for eligible first-time buyers purchasing newly built homes.

The government remains on a stimulus track, using almost all fiscal room from developments since the spring. The debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to remain around 40 percent through the forecast horizon.