Election Surplus Promise Won't Be in Budget

The Tories need more time to figure out how to get the government back in the black a year earlier than predicted.

A cornerstone of the Conservatives' election platform – a commitment to return the government to a surplus by 2014-15 – won't be in the federal budget tabled in June. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said his department needs more time to figure out how the government will cut the deficit a year earlier than was originally laid out in the March budget. That document set out plans to run a small $300-million deficit in 2014-15 followed by a surplus in 2015-16. The election platform said the Conservatives would commit to hitting the early deadline through ending stimulus funding and trimming government spending following a review of all departments.