Finance minister touts new federal budget in Halifax

François-Philippe Champagne, federal finance and national revenue minister, was in Halifax today to advertise the 2026 federal budget to business leaders.

Champagne spoke about measures in the $600 billion budget, which he tabled on Nov. 5, at a breakfast hosted by Halifax’s Chamber of Commerce. 

To a room of about 100 business leaders and politicians, the minister said the budget shows “confidence in Canada’s future.” Titled Masters of Our Destiny, it focuses on sovereignty and increased investment in Canadian industry. 

“The model of growth the prime minister and I have been discussing is really reflected here in Halifax and in Nova Scotia,” said Champagne during the event.

The new budget includes tens of billions of spending increases for defence and defence-related infrastructure, as well as boosts to arts and culture funding. It also lays out a plan to end homelessness in the next ten years.

About $8.5 billion – a quarter of all new spending — is devoted to a “productivity mega-deduction” tax cut for new business investment. 

“If we want to grow, we need to build. The city has a lot of ambition; I see Halifax a lot as the centre of the growth we see in the country,” said Champagne to reporters after the event.

“People understand that this is our moment that we can seize the opportunities in front of us and really put Atlantic Canada front and centre in the future of our country.”

The event was sponsored by Emera, which owns Nova Scotia Power, and the Chartered Professional Accountants of Nova Scotia.

Champagne also met with Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore about the budget. The minister also said he texted Premier Tim Houston and “crossed paths” at the airport with the premier, who is currently in Boston for an energy conference.

“Premier Houston [and I], we get along very well,” said Champagne. “There’s a sense of togetherness in what we’re trying to achieve.”

The budget includes $100 million for Wind West, a proposed wind farm off the coast of Nova Scotia.

“We talk about energy and [how] energy is going to be key for the future of Atlantic Canada but also the whole country, and how can Nova Scotia be at the centre of it,” said Champagne.

The minister held another event at 2 p.m. in Truro, N.S., continuing his national tour selling the budget. He has previously stopped in Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver.

The budget lays out a five-year plan to increase defence spending to $157 billion a year, just over four per cent of GDP, which falls short of the five per cent target set by NATO.

Shannon Miedema, the Liberal MP for Halifax who attended the event, highlighted the budget’s investments in arts and defence as particularly exciting for the city.

“There’s a huge ecosystem of defence here,” said Miedema, adding that she has not finished reading the 511-page budget. “There’s actually a huge trickle-down effect [of defence investment], and it has a really big boost to both the social and economic fabric of our city.”