When Prime Minister Stephen Harper shut down Parliament for three months to prepare this year's budget, he told Canadians he was "recalibrating the government's agenda." It was time to switch from stimulus to restraint, he said.

In his March budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty did lay out a rigorous plan to eliminate Ottawa's $56 billion deficit in five years. "Canada has returned to economic growth following the deepest global economic recession since the 1930s," he said. "In this budget we will take action to ensure the government lives within its means."

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