The Budget's Difficulty

The deficit for next year is projected to be about $14 billion, but economists are already saying if we see commodity prices as high as we have this year, another surplus is within reach. Do you think it's confusing to hear how difficult the budgetary challenges are on the one hand? And then in two months, the first surplus in a year's time, possibly a second surplus on your watch? First of all, let's not get ahead of ourselves on next year. The budget is only a day old. I don't really want to speculate about the one that will be in 12 months' time. There are good reasons to be really cautious about the assumptions in the budget around revenue in