By Evelyn Jacks
Were you aware that there is an important invitation waiting for you from Finance Canada? The next federal budget will be presented this fall and you have until September 8 to give your views in a Pre-Budget consultation. While it’s highly likely the government has already set its fiscal, social and economic direction, this invitation is an important way for you to participate in our democracy.
Why Participate? Obtaining insight into government decision-making is a key reason to get involved. The annual budget provides a glimpse into how the government is going to spend your money over the next five years. There will be an opportunity to understand private sector forecasting over this reporting period, which predicts things like the growth of our economy, interest rate trends, labor market trends and the health of our dollar.
The pre-budget consultation is a chance to see whether what’s important to you will be addressed, and even more telling, what the government is missing entirely. By the time the Budget arrives this fall you will be looking for important priorities you want the government to pay attention to. Now is the time to give voice to your concerns.
Distraction or Precision? You’ll also get to judge whether this pre-budget consultation is simply a distraction or if it will provide the precision you need to see to make your financial life a bit easier.
Consider the questions being asked; aside from anonymous questions to identify yourself, there are 11 of them, with pre-selected responses, which would be unfortunate if not for an opportunity to expand on the things you are most passionate about. Time will tell how precise the government will be in representing Canadians’ answers in the final budget document.
I’ve selected a couple of the questions as an example. How would you answer these questions?
1. What are the biggest financial concerns for you or your family?
2. If you were designing the federal budget, what would you suggest to help grow Canada’s economy?
3. What actions are the most important for the Government of Canada to help Canadians get ahead?
4. In the Spring Economic Update, the government announced that it would introduce the Canada Strong Fund – a national investment initiative that would strengthen Canada’s economy and give Canadians a direct stake in its success. What would be most important to you if you chose to participate?
Creating wealth – Part of your plan? When it comes to saving for the future, an investment in a Tax Free Savings Account may be a better option from a financial planning point of view for most Canadians, than the new Canada Strong Fund referenced in the pre-budget questionnaire. This is a version of a commonly known Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), and a new federal government priority.
The government notes on its website that our Canada Strong Fund will invest in strategic Canadian projects and companies, with the “clear objective to achieve commercial returns to build the wealth of Canada.”
Norway is home to the largest SWF and like many other countries that have one, that fund is build on surplus revenues, thereby taking the risk out of a debt-funded investment vehicle, which is what Canada would be creating.
The Canada Strong Fund carries with it the risk of underperforming or even producing investment losses, if interest rates rise or economies sputter further. That could happen with the turmoil of Canada U.S. trade negotiations.
Investors will want to talk to their financial advisors about this option as a part of their overall tax and wealth management strategy, at a minimum.
The numbers tell the story. In the Spring Economic Update, Canada’s fiscal position was somewhat alarming. Canada’s overall federal debt of $1.3 trillion is climbing to a staggering $1.6 trillion, and this should be of high concern, as the cost of servicing that debt is now projected to be over $80 Billion by the turn of this decade. That eats up a lot of room to provide for urgently needed social services.
On a per capita basis, our real GDP grew by only 0.6 per cent in 2025 after declining in both 2023 and 2024 and risks are high that economic growth could be further impacted by global events. The government released several scenarios for GDP growth last spring, which reflected volatility due to a protracted global disruption in oil prices, which of course, is occurring at the moment.
Private sector forecasters expected real GDP growth of only 1.1 per cent in 2026, rising to 1.9 per cent in 2027; and then, flatlining at the same levels across the forecast period ending in 2030. Overall this is 1.6% lower than the pre-tariff scenarios projected in 2024.
How do you feel about this?
What’s missing? While the direction of the pre-budget questions are clearly focused on building the economy, which is strategically on point for the times, there seems to be little on how to deal with the real life issues Canadians are talking about: a very broken health care system, the impending health care crisis in an aging demographic or how to reform the tax system to put more money into people’s jeans every two weeks to deal with the inflationary costs of global economic and political volatility.
Meeting the challenge with your voice. To say the least, we are in challenging economic times in which federal and provincial books are awash in red ink. This will guarantee, with certainty, that deferred taxation is in our future.
Understanding the numbers is a big part of your responsibility as a voter and in the work your Member of Parliament does. While some of the terminology may seem a bit overwhelming, the reality is that federal budgets are about whether the government of the day has its fiscal house in order and can manage the risks coming in the foreseeable future.
Your vote and your voice has power in our democracy. Be sure to weigh in with your thoughts on this pre-budget consultation. To participate go to https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/programs/consultations/2026/pre-budget-consultations-2026.html
Evelyn Jacks is an award-winning business leader, a tax literacy advocate, and best-selling author of 55 books on the subject of tax planning and family wealth management. Hear her podcast, Real Tax News You Can Use. Listen here or anywhere you do your streaming.