2005 Canadian federal budget

The 2005 Canadian federal budget was the budget of the Government of Canada for the 2005-2006 fiscal year. It was presented on February 23, 2005, by Finance Minister Ralph Goodale. It was the first federal budget presented by a minority government in Canada since the budget presented by the government led by Joe Clark in 1979. The defeat of that budget led to an election in which Clark's Progressive Conservative Party was defeated.

Having fewer than half the seats in the Canadian House of Commons meant that the governing Liberal Party of Canada had to win the support of members of other parties for the 2005 budget to pass. Without that support, the budget would have been defeated, and new elections would likely have been called.

In the 2005-06 fiscal year, the government had a large surplus of expected revenues over expenses, making the government able to fund a wide array of new initiatives. The budget bill (C-43) received Royal Assent on June 28, 2005. In order to gain the necessary support of the New Democratic Party (NDP) the budget was amended (Bill C-48) and given assent three weeks later following considerable debate.

Details of the budget

The budget was the eighth balanced budget in a row presented by the Liberal government. It contained minor tax cuts for both businesses and individuals over a five year period. These cuts, however, were mostly scheduled to begin in the latter years of the five-year period, which meant that the majority of them were unlikely...
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