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          OTTAWA, Nov 15 (Reuters): Canada's minority Liberal government promised C$39 billion ($32.8 billion) in tax cuts and new spending over six years yesterday in a package which would effectively serve as its platform for an imminent election campaign.
The government took the unusual step of turning the regular fall Economic and Fiscal Update-which is meant to be a snapshot of the economy and budget-into a mini-budget larded with personal and business tax cuts and more than C$8 billion in new spending over several years.
"This is obviously a pre-election budget," National Bank Financial chief economist Clement Gignac said. "This is a massive reduction in Canadians' tax burden rather than window dressing ... This will represent considerable amounts of money on people's tax returns."
The update earmarked C$5.3 billion in tax cuts, the majority for personal income tax, for all of 2005 and enabling legislation was presented to Parliament Monday. The remaining nearly C$25 billion in tax cuts would be implemented by the 2010/11 fiscal year.
The government also sought to shore up its reputation as a deficit buster by projecting C$47 billion in surpluses over six years and setting its debt reduction target to 20 per cent of gross domestic product by 2020. That ratio peaked at 68.4 per cent in 1995.
Faced with a possible confidence vote from a newly united opposition that could trigger an election in January or February, the government rowed back on previous pledges to reserve new fiscal measures for its annual February budget.