Having had the weekend to think about it, we’re even more convinced last week’s federal budget deserves a dismal grade. In addition to our concerns about excessive deficits and eye-popping total borrowing, our dissatisfaction with the $27.5-billion change to the 2025-26 deficit since the spring economic update is growing.

For anyone hoping the 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. It mixes old and new........

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