Champagne promotes federal budget in Halifax visit

Canada’s finance minister pitched the country’s sovereignty and strength at a breakfast meeting with Halifax’s business community on Thursday.

Federal Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne is travelling the country to promote the 2026 federal budget, which was released Nov. 5. Homelessness and artificial intelligence also figured in his speech.  

“We’re building a stronger nation at a time when unity has never been, in my view, stronger,” he told an early morning crowd at the Atlantica Hotel. 

The budget projects a $62.3 billion deficit for the current year, but plans to spend $142.1 billion in tax incentives and other initiatives over the next five years. Energy, business, and infrastructure are key priorities. 

It also commits to spending nearly $30 billion over the next 10 years to end homelessness.  

An estimated 65,000 homeless Canadians will be able to “reach their full potential,” Champagne said. “This is a great social endeavour that a rich country like Canada should be able to achieve.” 

The budget commits $606 million over the next five years to advance artificial intelligence for government use.  

“Canadians want to make sure that we take the step as a nation to have data sovereignty and that the data can be stored in Canada,” he told the crowd. “We need to do things at speed and scale we’ve not seen in generations, because time is a competitive advantage.”  

Champagne responded to questions about the province-wide protests against the EverWind data centre in Port Hawkesbury.  

“You know, people express their opinion and certainly we listen,” he says. “I think what people are saying is, ‘Let’s make sure we use our precious resources in a smart way.’ ”  

Halifax Liberal MP Shannon Miedema also spoke at the event. She told The Signal she believes there is a misunderstanding in Nova Scotia surrounding AI data centres.  

“I know the people at EverWind really well. They’ve been working on wind energy, and they’ve been looking at green hydrogen,” she says. 

Still, some concerns are valid, she says. 

“The provincial government has to put important guardrails on the development of data centres, so that our environment is protected, our water is protected,” she said. 

Miedema says the federal budget directly invests in Halifax: tax credits for artists, improving Halifax’s defence infrastructure, and doubling the city’s electricity grid by 2050 are just parts of the “long list” of benefits.

“The budget has so much for Nova Scotia because we’re really at the centre of what’s happening,” she told The Signal.  

“This is going to put us in the leading position.” 

Champagne also promoted the budget in Truro Thursday afternoon. His tour continues in Toronto on Friday.