There was a time in this fair land when a federal budget was an economic document. These days, it is a social policy document aimed to buy votes. It’s actually quite sad.
David Rosenberg, Rosenberg Research

Welcome to the new Canada, where on Monday the Liberal government launched a grand experiment in retrograde economic policy. It deserves a name. When the Soviet Union began to collapse back in the 1980s under the weight of too much central planning, Mikhail Gorbachev brought in Perestroika, economic reforms aimed at reducing the role of central planners, bureaucrats and politicians by increasing economic reliance on markets. Canada is now moving in the other direction. Reverse Perestroika.
Terence Cochrane, Financial Post

Budget 2021 can be read as the opening salvo in a public relations war with the provinces. Freeland has set her government up as the saviour of working mothers and families with small children. She has used the pandemic as a policy window that increases government spending, not just as a response to the crisis but for the long-term.
Lydia Miljan, Fraser Institute

On Monday, Canada’s first female finance minister in her first budget, simply filled in the names of who will be getting the cheques, including everyone from women, to subsidized childcare providers, green energy aficionados (can’t forget them!), Indigenous Canadians, visible minority groups, the unemployed, seniors, students, young families and big and small business. Which would be great news if the government’s finances were in good shape, but they’re a train wreck.
Lorrie Goldstein, Toronto Sun

Yesterday’s Budget shows that marker of fiscal stability not being attained until 2055. In the meantime, the debt burden is depicted as ever so slightly and gradually declining from the current 50-percent mark. This signifies this government’s acceptance of a heavy debt burden and hence considerable risk for more than a generation.
Don Drummond, CD Howe Institute

Trudeau’s reckless budget burdens the kids he claims he’s helping. Eventually, someone has to pay for all of this spending.
Licia Corbella, Calgary Herald

It was inevitable that the budget would be more focused on redistribution than growth. This is a government that is far better at giving away money than generating it, collecting it or delivering services.
John Ivison, Vancouver Sun