On Tuesday, Finance Minister Bill Moreau will table his fourth and final budget ahead of the October federal election.

Issues including competitiveness, housing affordability for young Canadians, pharmacare, skills training, and help for seniors are all topics the finance minister is expected to address.

The state of the federal books will also be a key focus. Ahead of the 2015 election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on balancing the budget by this year. But Ottawa has since shifted its focus to lowering the net debt-to-GDP ratio, rather than balancing the books.

In its fall fiscal update in November, the government projected annual deficits of $18.1 billion in 2018-19, $19.6 billion in 2019-20 and $18.1 billion in 2020-21. Ottawa sees the deficit shrinking each year after that, reaching $11.4 billion by 2023-24.

Below, six economists share their budget wish lists and weigh in on what they think Ottawa’s economic priorities should be.

Some answers have been edited and condensed for the sake of brevity.

Doug Porter, chief economist and managing director, BMO Capital Group

Biggest budget wish list item

“Any measures that truly strengthen and enhance Canadian competitiveness, which would include trims to marginal tax rates – either corporate and/or personal. I highly suspect that those wishes will not be granted.”

What should be a priority for Ottawa at this time

“While I don’t believe there is a strong case to ramp up stimulus with the jobless rate still holding close to 40-year lows, I don’t regard cutting quickly into the deficit as the top priority either, given the lacklustre growth Canada experienced around the turn of the year.”

Dawn Desjardins, vice president and deputy chief economist, RBC Economic Research

Biggest budget wish list item

“Acknowledging that the budget balance has moved favourably during this fiscal year and that there is a path toward balancing the budget. Benchmarking where the infrastructure dollars are being spent – how far the government is along in its 10-year plan.”

What should be a priority for Ottawa at this time

“Any steps that can be taken to reduce red tape limiting business investment.”

Royce Mendes, director and senior economist, CIBC Capital Markets

Biggest budget wish list item

Mendes said he is not looking for one specific measure.

What should be a priority for Ottawa at this time

“It’s probably not the right time for the federal government to be moving away from stimulus in any material way … Given its low debt-to-GDP ratio, the federal government remains best suited to continue supporting the economy while others pull back.”

Francis Fong, chief economist, Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada 

Biggest budget wish list item

“Something that provides financial incentives for Canadians and employers to pursue retraining and upskilling. As time goes on, things like automation and other new technologies are going to impact a growing share of Canadians, so a key challenge for folks is, how do they stay relevant? And what’s the role of the federal government in helping ease that transition?”

What should be a priority for Ottawa at this time

“A review of the tax system. At the end of the day, when I look at the issues hovering over the Canadian economy, both internal and external, and I look at the tools within the government’s arsenal best-positioned to address those issues, the tax system is still the strongest lever they have to pull to address things like long-term competitiveness or supporting innovation.”

Derek Holt, vice president and head of capital markets economics, Scotiabank

Biggest budget wish list item

“What I won’t see [referring to deficit reduction]. If they were to provide stimulus, I would prefer that it would be of the variety that sows the seeds for longer-lived growth – like skills training and that kind of activity – to help people adjust to the global economy.”

What should be a priority for Ottawa at this time

“[Canada’s recent economic weakness] was a blip, but it’s going to be a Q1, Q4 blip, and it will provide cover for the federal government to create a bit of stimulus this time around … The best [form of stimulus] to me right now, personally, is pay down debt and achieve fiscal balance, because the good times aren’t going to last forever. We’re going to eventually see a big negative shock to the deficit from a downturn. What they’re most likely to do, however, is to provide immediate cash injections and short-term stimulus to the economy.”

Avery Shenfeld, managing director and chief economist, CIBC Capital Markets

Biggest budget wish list item

“I’d like to see more to address business competitiveness because we’re trying to, after all, shift growth from housing to things like exports – and we’re not doing very well on that front. But I don’t have much hope for that in this budget, to be frank. This is an election-year budget. People want to see a cheque in the mail and they want it in their own mail, not the corporate sector’s mail.”

What should be a priority for Ottawa at this time

“I think we place too much emphasis on the federal level [for] fiscal restraint, particularly at a time when the economy is starting to at least show a little bit of concern in terms of the growth rates. I’d rather see any restraint we have to be done at the provincial level where debts are more problematic and where the interest costs on those debts is a little higher.”