BREAKING: Canada's 2020-21 deficit now projected at $327.7 BILLION

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland delivered Canada's economic and fiscal update on Tuesday via Zoom, after it was discovered that staffers had tested positive for COVID-19.

"21 months ago, a global pandemic reached our shores, few of us had any idea how long it would last or the toll it would take, and today we're facing Omicron," said Freeland during her introduction, crediting the Trudeau Liberal government for placing "unprecedented measures" to face COVID-19.

"This economic and fiscal update provides Canadians with a transparent report of our nations finances, it also includes targeted investments that will ensure we have the weapons we need to finish the fight against COVID-19," said Freeland, naming pediatric vaccines and booster shots for Canadians as examples.

According to the fiscal update, the 2021 deficit is now projected at $327.7 billion, compared to the forecasted $354.2 billion.

The fiscal update forecasts that in 2021-2022, Canada will have a $144.5 bilion deficit, with a 48 percent debt-to-GDP ratio. Freeland noted that this forecast was lower than what was initially expected, and attributed the drop to higher tax revenue from a growing economy, and a decrease in pandemic spending.

The fiscal update states that Canada's economy would see a growth of 4.2 percent in 2022, and 2.8 percent in 2023. This, however, is not set in stone, due to threats posed by Omicron.

The budget itself includes $4.5 billion for Canada's Omicron response.

Nearly $2 billion will be provided to provinces and territories for rapid testing, along with $2 billion over two years for "therapeutic procurement, logistics, and operating costs."

"OECD projections suggests that by 2023, Canada's recovery will be the second-fastest in the G7," said Freeland. "The size of the Canadian economy this year will be 2.48 trillion dollars."

"When we published our economic forecast in the 2018 budget, that is almost exactly the size we expected our economy would have grown to by this year, and we made that forecast when none of us had any idea that our economic growth and our lives would be so deeply disrupted by COVID-19," said Freeland.  

Freeland said that moving forward, the federal government would be "mindful of elevated inflation" and its impacts on cost of living.

Recent polling has shown that cost of living hikes continue to be on the minds of Canadians across the country, with 78 percent of Canadians "very" or "somewhat" concerned that inflation will make everyday things less affordable for their families.

Forecasts report that those in a family of four will pay an extra $966 in food in 2022.

Freeland said that the best way to keep prices stable in Canada is a "strong, monetary policy framework."

"Yesterday, we renewed the bank of Canada's 2 percent inflation target, to ensure that the current rate of inflation does not become entrenched," said Freeland, saying that the Bank of Canada has maintained price stability since it first established a target for inflation thirty years ago.

Canada's total debt sits at $1.1 trillion.