(Reuters) — The sharp decline in oil prices should not prevent Canada’s Conservative government from balancing its budget next fiscal year, prime minister Stephen Harper said Dec. 4.
He noted that the federal government does not get direct royalties from oil companies, though it does receive corporate taxes, and he said finance minister Joe Oliver had provided for cheap oil in the fall economic and fiscal update he presented on Nov. 12.
Crude oil prices are the lowest since 2009.
