November 1978 Canadian federal budget

The Canadian federal budget for fiscal year 1979–80 was presented by Minister of Finance Jean Chrétien in the House of Commons of Canada on 16 November 1978.^[2]

November 1978 Budget of the Canadian Federal Government

Presented	16 November 1978
Parliament	30th
Party	Liberal
Finance minister	Jean Chrétien
Total revenue	43.310 billion [1]
Total expenditures	55.277 billion [1]
Deficit	$11.967 billion[1]
‹ April 1978 1979›

Context

August 1978 spending cuts

The budget follows the announcement by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of a $2-billion spending cuts package on 1 August 1978. Details for $1.5-billion of the cuts were released on 16 August 1978 and affected more than 100 federal programs and many organisms including the Department of National Defence ($150-million), the CBC ($71-million), the Canadian International Development Agency ($133-million) and many other federal institutions. Construction of a heavy water plant in La Prade (Quebec) was immediately suspended to generate $150-million in savings.^[3]

Aftermath

Execution

Budgetary items in billions of dollars

Element	1977-1978	1978-1979
	Actual[4]	April Budget	Nov. Budget	Actual[4]
Tax revenues	28.96	31.62	30.73	30.65
Non-tax revenues	3.91	4.39	4.47	4.56
Program expenditures	(37.35)	(46.90)	(47.30)	(39.86)
Public debt charge	(5.55)			(7.06)
Extraordinary items[a]	–	–	–	(4.48)
Deficit	(10.04)	(10.90)	(12.10)	(16.19)
Non-budgetary transactions	1.77	(0.60)	–	5.25
Financial requirements	(8.27)	(11.50)	(12.10)	(10.94)