The federal Conservative budget will be delivered on March 19, one day earlier than many had anticipated.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty made the announcement Tuesday in the House of Commons.
"I'm not going to get into the type of tax relief but we have some commitments with respect to reducing taxes that we've yet to fulfil," he told reporters afterward. "And I do -- and we're looking at various tax reduction options. But there will be further reduction of tax in Budget 2007 in addition to what's been announced."
In his fall fiscal update, Flaherty promised a "tax-back guarantee," which would see any interest savings on the debt get paid out as tax cuts.
The budget is expected to have funding measures for training and education, infrastructure and science and technology.
This will be the minority government's second budget since winning the Jan. 23, 2006 federal election.
"I believe it will be a good budget, I believe Parliament should support the budget," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told 麻豆影视net's Mike Duffy Live.
Votes on budget items are considered matters of confidence. That means if the opposition parties vote against the budget, the government could fall and an election would result.
The Liberals have indicated they are likely to vote against the budget, but the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP would have to join them for the budget to be defeated.
However, the opposition parties' fortunes aren't on the rise in the latest Strategic Counsel poll.
The Conservatives lead the Liberals 34 per cent to 29 per cent. Both parties are down from the popular support they received in the federal election.
Harper said he's in no rush for an election.
"There's a lot of other things I want to do. As long as we can get things done, as long as nothing happens in Parliament that jeopardizes the economy or the vital interests of Canadians, we're going to continue to govern," he said.
The government is expected to announce a series of tax cuts and spending measures.
Last week, Harper announced $350 million would be directed to the Quebec provincial government for environmental initiatives.
However, that money transfer would be conditional on the budget's approval, he said.
Quebec budget
The Quebec government tabled its budget Tuesday afternoon. Quebecers were offered $250 million in tax cuts and $1.3 billion in new health care spending.
A Quebec provincial election is expected to be called Wednesday, with the vote to take place on March 26.
According to The Canadian Press, neither Flaherty or Conservative House leader Peter Van Loan could say if a first vote on the budget would happen before Quebecers vote.
A big issue in Quebec is the fiscal imbalance. The federal government is expected to rejig the equalization scheme -- and Quebec is expected to benefit from that.
"I think good government is good politics and so I expect we'll have a budget, as I say, that first of all deals with the fiscal balance issue which is a longstanding thorn in intergovernmental relations and relationships between the Government of Canada and the provinces," Flaherty said.
"Chances are the fiscal arrangements that are going to be offered to Quebec are going to be pretty popular in Quebec and strongly welcomed by Premier Charest, so the difficulty they're going to have is how do you in effect turn down money that is being offered?" Geoff Norquay, a Conservative strategist and Ottawa lobbyist, told CP.
With files from The Canadian Press
