Canadians will likely hear within a year that certain Crown corporations and assets are going up for sale, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says.

Flaherty made the revelation in a pre-taped interview with CBC's The House to be broadcast Saturday. He was asked by host Kathleen Petty about the potential sale of Crown assets as a way to tackle the deficit.

"There are some opportunities there for some privatization of businesses that one questions why the government is in them anymore," Flaherty said. "So we'll look at those and I expect that in the next year we'll be able to make some announcements."

The finance minister didn't specify which assets could go on the auction block but indicated it would not be limited to real estate or other tangible assets but include privatizing some services and Crown corporations.

The 2010 federal budget, tabled by Flaherty in the House of Commons on Thursday, includes a $53.8 billion deficit in 2009-10 and a $49.2 billion deficit in 2010-11. Flaherty's plan to reduce deficits in subsequent years is built largely on strong economic growth and some $17.6 billion worth of savings in government expenditures over the next five years.

Corporate assets under review

The savings, according to the budget, will largely come from streamlining and reducing the operating and administrative costs of government. The budget identified $1.2 billion in projected savings over the next five years from strategic reviews officially announced in the 2009 budget, including a review of corporate assets.

This year's budget documents do not indicate what conclusions or recommendations have been reached so far, except to describe the process as "continuing."

Flaherty would not disclose how much money could be generated by such sales but said there were "some substantial opportunities."

The prospect of selling Crown assets to balance the budget and avoid a deficit was first raised by the minister in 2008. In December, the government announced it was selling off the commercial reactor division of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd, a Crown corporation.

Last summer, the minister said strategic reviews were being conducted on his own portfolio, Finance, as well as Indian and Northern Affairs, Natural Resources and Transport and Infrastructure — as "prudent business management."

He also said Heritage Canada, the department that oversees the CBC, was not one of the departments being reviewed.