Canadians should not expect to receive general tax rebates or reductions to counteract the impact of inflation from the federal budget that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will present next Tuesday.

"Our ability to spend is not unlimited," said the Finance Minister in Justin Trudeau's Liberal government today from Quebec City, adding: "We cannot cover all the costs that every Canadian bears due to inflation or due to rising interest rates. Doing so will only worsen inflation and raise interest rates for a longer period."

However, the Liberal government will allocate support in its budget to vulnerable segments of society.

"The budget includes measures aimed at helping the less wealthy, while at the same time we will have a financially responsible policy," Minister Freeland explained.

The budget will also include "major investments in the green economy." Freeland added in this regard that the global economy is approaching a historic turning point, no less significant than the industrial revolution, and that Canada cannot be a bystander.

"Today and in the coming years, Canada can either seize this historic moment, this unprecedented opportunity available to it, or fall behind to catch up with all the democracies of the world that have chosen to build the clean 21st-century economy," confirmed the Canadian Finance Minister.

Freeland was invited to comment on Canada's true commitment to this energy transition when asked whether her budget responds to the pledge of her colleague, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, to completely stop supporting fossil fuels by mid-2023, and her answer contained major reservations. She responded saying: "We have made commitments and will do what we promised, but I also want to say regarding our natural resources, it is equally important to understand that the world today needs Canada's natural resources."

Freeland also did not forget to remind that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, "emphasized the importance of Canada's natural resources, especially natural gas, for the world today," during her visit to Canada two weeks ago.

Freeland emphasized "the very, very big challenge that our European allies faced this winter," as they had to give up Russian natural gas due to the war in Ukraine.