Finance Minister Jim Flaherty: Federal Budget

Balanced Budget Dept: As many countries have learned, Greece and others, if we do not have our fiscal house in order, if we do not have balanced budgets, if we do not run surpluses then when the next crisis comes which it inevitably will we will not be in a position to react, Flaherty said Friday during a speech in Toronto, according to The Chronicle Herald. The Conservative government s 2012 budget, tabled Thursday, aims to trim the country s deficit by $8.5 billion to $24.9 billion for 2011-12 and eliminate it by 2015 and tORONTO The restraint in Canada s federal budget is modest compared to the austerity measures taken in Europe and puts the country on track to join emerging economies in the race for growth, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Friday. So I say it s relatively modest. It gets our house in order and it confirms that we will get to a balanced budget in the medium term, Flaherty told the Toronto Canadian Club. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.