The 2009 federal budget followed dramatic financial shocks, the onslaught of a major economic recession, changes in the fiscal health of the major provinces, and the installation of a new political regime in Washington with a different policy perspective. Under such circumstances, there is a need to examine how the budget responded to these challenges and addresses current economic conditions and political realities, as well as how it fits with the fiscal direction and priorities of the Harper government.

The papers in this volume examine the political and economic context informing the 2009 budget and provide a quantitative evaluation of the impact of the overall budget package on the Canadian economy. Special attention is devoted to topics such as the economic stimulus and stabilization provisions in the budget, specific tax policy changes, financial market provisions, fiscal sustainability of the budget deficits, cost-sharing and federal-provincial fiscal relations, federal equalization transfers since the O'Brien Report, Canada's declining social safety net and EI reform, social policy and anti-poverty provisions, alternative approaches to environmental protection and green initiatives, and emerging fiscal challenges.

Contributors include Ken Battle and Sherri Torjman (Caledon Institute), Robin Boadway (Queen's), Tom Courchene (Queen's), Robert Fairholm (Centre for Spatial Economics), Richard Harris (Simon Fraser), Paul Hobson (Acadia), Janice MacKinnon (Saskatchewan), Kevin Milligan (British Columbia), Nancy Olewiler (Simon Fraser), Lars Osberg (Dalhousie), Kevin Page (Parliamentary Budget Office), Finn Poschmann (C.D. Howe Institute), Chris Ragan (McGill), William Scarth (McMaster), Michael Smart (Toronto), Tracy Snoddon (Wilfrid Laurier), Lindsay Tedds (Victoria), William Watson (McGill), and Frances Woolley (Carleton).