Instant View: Canada 2023/24 budget deficit to jump, Ottawa to boost spending

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada on Tuesday sought to close competitive gaps with United States with a budget aimed at attracting investment in the low-carbon economy, including tax incentives for electric-vehicle (EV) manufacturers and expanding the electricity grid.

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COMMENTARY

RANDALL BARTLETT, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF CANADIAN ECONOMICS AT DESJARDINS GROUP

"It would be challenge to characterize this budget as being prudent. There is significant new spending, with larger deficits and a rising debt-to-GDP ratio into next year."

KEITH CURRIE, FARMER AND PRESIDENT OF THE CANADIAN FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE

"There's not a lot of new (farm) initiatives. It's more about starting to follow through. We were hoping for some kind of announcement on the fertilizer tariff (absorbed by eastern farmers for Russian imported fertilizer). It really isn't going to help the farmers in Eastern Canada directly who paid the tariff. We would like to see some kind of incentive to get some fertilizer production here in Eastern Canada, because we don't have any."

(Reporting by Rod Nickel, Steve Scherer; Editing by Denny Thomas)