Ottawa posts $2.3B deficit

The federal government saw its surplus for this fiscal year cut nearly in half as it ran a $2.3-billion deficit in August, according to the Finance Department’s monthly fiscal monitor. The result for August compared with a deficit of roughly $300 million in the same month last year. Ottawa’s surplus for the Aprilto-August period stood at $2.8 billion compared with a deficit of $1.1 billion for the same five-month period last year.