Prime Minister Mark Carney says Liberals will table a budget this fall

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday morning in Rome that his Liberal government will table a budget this fall — a decision he argued is the right one because there's "not much value" in rushing out a budget at the earliest opportunity.

"We will have a much more comprehensive, effective, ambitious, prudent budget in the fall," Carney said at a media conference in Rome. "You do these things right and that's what we're going to do."

The Liberals have faced sharp criticism from their opponents since Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said on Wednesday that the Liberals would not table a budget this spring and instead present a "substantive" fall economic statement, which is like a mini-budget.

Carney defended his government waiting until the fall to table a budget and argued "there's not much value in trying to rush through a budget in a very narrow window — three weeks — with a new cabinet [and] effectively a new finance minister."

The House of Commons is set to return on May 26.

More to come