For anyone hoping that the federal budget would signal a much-needed turn in economic and fiscal policy, the very appearance of the document is a warning. Like its recent predecessors, it is hundreds of pages of condescending graphics and politicized prose. The key fiscal numbers are buried in an annex on page 326. And it is billed as the budget for 2026, which is ludicrously late: the 2026-27 fiscal year started on April 1 and is now more than half over.

Plunge into the document, and the disappointment deepens. Canadians have suffered a decade of stagnating living standards — a combined........

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