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ENVIRONMENT

Since the Liberal government feels it has checked climate-change financing off its long environmental to-do list, Ottawa is expected to shift its funding focus to other international obligations on the environment, such as the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. The 2010 agreement says Canada must protect at least 17 per cent of its terrestrial areas, including inland waters, plus at least 10 per cent of its oceans by 2020.

PAY EQUITY

The government is expected to detail the cost of its long-held promise to achieve proactive pay equity in Canada this year. The exact figure remains to be seen, but the price tag on closing the gender wage gap in the public service and federally regulated workplaces, which together employ nearly 1.2 million people, will likely be significant.

SOCIAL PROCUREMENT

The budget could include an effort to increase procurement opportunities for female entrepreneurs, following the recommendation of the Canada-U.S. women-in-business group created by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump. The government has already been taking concrete steps toward adjusting procurement practices to increase the diversity of bidders. Groups promoting social procurement have seen more and more encouraging signs that additional commitments are on the way.

STILL IN THE RED

The Liberals blew through their 2015 campaign promise to keep the annual deficit below $10 billion in their first federal budget, and their ability to stick by their commitment to return to balance by 2019 remains in doubt. The latest federal forecast, released last October, projected a $14.3-billion deficit for 2019-20 and doubts persist that Tuesday’s budget will show a revised timeline for getting back to black.