Conservative leader Stephen Harper speaks to supporters during a campaign stop at the refinery in Saint John, Thursday September 10, 2015.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
The federal government ran a small surplus of $150-million in July, and Ottawa's books remain in surplus over the first four months of the current fiscal year.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper seized on the new data Friday to argue that his government is "well on track" for a second consecutive year of balanced books.
On Friday Finance Canada released its monthly fiscal monitor report, which tracks federal government spending and revenues. The monthly report is normally a low-key affair, but the Conservatives have been highlighting the figures in recent months to bolster their argument that federal deficits are in the rear-view mirror.
Over the first four months of the 2015-16 fiscal year, the federal government is running a $5.2-billion surplus, compared with an $807-million deficit during the same period a year earlier. Finance Canada confirmed last week that the federal government ran a surplus in 2014-15 after six consecutive years of deficits.
Speaking at a campaign event in Rivière-du-Loup, Que., Mr. Harper highlighted Friday's report and said it helps contrast his low tax plan with opposition proposals to raise taxes and run deficits.
"We are well on track for the second balanced budget in a row at the federal level," he said.
Independent observers, however, have questioned whether Ottawa is in fact on pace for a surplus this year. About $2.1-billion of the $5.2-billion surplus to date is due to a one-time revenue gain from the government's April sale of its remaining shares in General Motors.
Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Fréchette reported in July that because the economy is growing at a slower pace than Ottawa expected at the time of the April budget, the final numbers for the 2015-16 fiscal year are on track to show a small deficit.
Internal Finance Canada documents showed Finance Minister Joe Oliver's office made a last-minute request to release the fiscal monitor for April and May a week and a half early, which meant it came out on July 22, the same day the PBO was reporting that Ottawa was facing a deficit for 2015-16.
The early release – which showed a two-month surplus of $3.9-billion thanks in large part to the sale of GM shares – allowed the Conservatives to res-pond to the PBO report by arguing that Ottawa was in surplus.
Mark Pender, the department's director of public affairs, sent an e-mail to deputy minister Paul Rochon at 6:02 that morning.
"Good morning Paul, We received a request from mino [minister's office] last night to bring forward the release of the fiscal monitor this morning at 9am. My team has been working to deliver the request. I wanted to make sure you were aware," he wrote.
"Thanks for the good work Mark. I am aware of the request," Mr. Rochon replied.
The fiscal monitor is normally released on the last Friday of each month. The e-mails were released under the Access to Information Act and were first reported by the Ottawa Citizen this week.
The e-mails show that political staff from Mr. Oliver's office, including director of communications Melissa Lantsman and David Van Hemmen, the director of budget planning, asked public servants the evening before the PBO's planned release whether there was any precedent for the department to release the fiscal monitor ahead of schedule.
The issue of Ottawa's bottom line is a central point of division between the federal parties in the election campaign. Mr. Harper and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair are promising to balance the books every year if either of them forms a government. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says he will run three years of deficits – to fund an ambitious infrastructure spending program – before balancing the books in the fourth year of a Liberal government.
Bill Curry