OTTAWA — The Conservative government will hand down its federal budget on March 22, setting out a financial plan that could begin the countdown to a May election.
It will be Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s sixth budget in a minority situation, but this year it’s unclear if the document will survive more than a few days.
The Tories need the support of at least one opposition party to pass the budget and the Liberals and Bloc Quebecois have all but declared they will not support it.
That leaves the government’s fate in the hands of the NDP, which wants to see several measures, including tax relief for seniors and breaks on home heating.
Flaherty says there will not be any big new spending and insists he will not raise taxes.
The Conservatives have run up the biggest deficit in the history of the country, driven largely by billions of dollars in stimulus funding to help the economic recovery.
On Tuesday, Ottawa released estimates showing it will cut spending by about $10 billion next coming year as it ends stimulus funding.
The government estimated in the fall that this year’s deficit will be around $45 billion, but analysts and early returns suggest it may come in at under $40 billion.
The deficit for the 2011-12 fiscal year is expected to be about $30 billion.