April 1 marks the beginning of the 2026/27 fiscal year. In the months leading up to this date, all but two (Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador) provincial governments released their 2026 budgets, which inform residents of the fiscal plan for the coming year. Yet despite promising greater transparency, there’s been no word from the Carney government on the state of federal finances.
Governments in Canada (provincial and previous federal governments) deliver their annual budgets in the spring, usually before (or right after) the start of the fiscal year in April. Then in the fall (halfway through the fiscal year), governments release a fiscal update that revises the budget projections to factor in any changes to their underlying assumptions (population, economic growth, etc.) and any new spending or tax measures introduced since the budget. Additionally, governments also release their public accounts in the fall, which provide the actual fiscal numbers for the previous fiscal year.
The timing of fiscal releases is an important issue that ultimately reflects government transparency. When governments delay the release of these important fiscal documents, they leave Canadians (and members of Parliament/provincial legislatures) uncertain about the state of government finances, how proposed policies will impact government finances, and whether or not the government is staying accountable to any previous fiscal commitments.
For example, the Trudeau government was called out by the Parliamentary Budgetary Officer near the end of its tenure for delaying its release of the 2024 public accounts. At the time, it was widely expected the government had failed to uphold a previous fiscal commitment to keep the 2023/24 budget deficit below $40 billion (which turned out to be true), and some suggested the government was delaying the release to find a time where the bad news might garner less attention. Moreover, the Trudeau government regularly released its annual budgets after the fiscal year had already started in April.
Simply put, when governments delay releasing important fiscal documents (budgets, fiscal updates and public accounts) they ultimately reduce transparency and shirk accountability for their management of public finances.
Among the many things the Carney government promised to do differently than its predecessor, it promised greater transparency in the budget process. This could have easily taken the form of legislated deadlines for the release of fiscal documents (Ontario is required to release its budget on or before March 31 each year, for example), but instead the Carney government decided to flip the typical budget cycle on its head by releasing its budget in the fall and the fiscal update in the spring.
This means the Carney government will release its budget halfway through the fiscal year rather than before or right after it begins. Moreover, the Carney government is only releasing its spring fiscal update after the current fiscal year has begun.
The result of this new schedule is that Canadians have started the 2026/27 fiscal year with no update on how the Carney government managed their finances during the previous year, and no current plan for how the government intends to manage their finances over the coming year. These are not the actions of a transparent and accountable government.