OTTAWA — The federal government posted a deficit of $5.36 billion for the first five months of its 2026-27 fiscal year.
In its monthly fiscal monitor report, the Finance Department says the result compared with a deficit of $11.07 billion in the same April-to-August period a year earlier.
I don’t understand some comments. The budget deficit almost halved compared to the same period last year, with revenues totalling $215.5 billion (+ $14.4 billion or 7.1%), and expenses totalling $220.9 billion (+ $8.6 billion or 4.1%).
The most important single expense appears to be the public-debt charges which climbed 16.1%, but I don’t see what this has to do with AI or the like.
So, couple things.
The deficit will almost certainly be higher than that when the dust settles. A lot of invoices come due in month 11 or 12.
Ordinarily I’d say it’s people using this to try to shoehorn their hatred of AI into the conversation, but part of the reason for this specific deficit is Canada just this week took equity in Cohere.
The numbers for the full year aren’t there yet (at least I haven’t seen a forecast), and Canada will have to invest in AI, too as it can’t rely on the U.S. nor China.