"Generational" is the Carney government's adjective of choice at this moment of consequence. The word appeared 11 times in the prepared text of François Philippe-Champagne's budget speech and another 45 times in the 493-page budget document.
It is a word apparently meant to speak to both the gravity of the country's situation and the bigness of this government response.
"This is not a time for small plans," Champagne writes in the budget's foreword.
The word also assumes some kind of lasting significance — both for this moment and for the government's response.
As much as one should be humble about predicting the future relevance of the present, it seems safe to assume that this moment will matter, even if we cannot know exactly how.
But the exact significance of this budget might depend on what happens over the next 12 months.
The budget's big numbers
The first big number to be focused on will inevitably be the deficit — $78.3 billion in the current fiscal year, falling gradually to $56.6 billion four years from now.
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