Canada's finance minister reintroduced a budget rejected by opposition parties two months ago with only minor tweaks, and revised upward this year's deficit projection.

But with a Conservative majority in parliament now, its approval this time is assured.

"On election day, Canadians expressed their support for the government's economic record and its plan to ensure Canada remains at the forefront of economic growth and job creation," Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said.

The combination of tax cuts and a temporary hike in government spending was introduced "to meet the worst global recession since the 1930s head on" and "it worked," he added, pointing to "one of the strongest economic recoveries in the G7."

"Now, we're rolling up our sleeves to take on our next challenge, as we complete the transition from providing temporary stimulus to winding it down, to eliminating the deficit and returning to balanced budgets."

The document restated all of the same commitments made two months ago in the first budget along with some election platform commitments, as well as revised economic forecasts.

Opposition parties, which held a majority of seats in parliament in March, had rejected the original budget over the Tory government's refusal to detail its spending priorities.

The standoff led to Canada's fourth snap election in seven years, which resulted in the nation's first Conservative majority government since 1988.

The new budget includes a phasing out of public subsidies for political parties and allocates funds for Quebec to offset losses from its harmonization of its sales tax with a federal consumption tax.

As well, it restates the government's support for family caregivers, volunteer firefighters, students and seniors -- mostly in the form of tax credits.

However, the government's election campaign pledge to return to a budgetary surplus by fiscal 2014-2015, one year ahead of schedule, will only be recorded in subsequent budgets, Flaherty said.

Jack Layton, leader of the opposition New Democratic Party, criticized the government for being "very vague on where the cuts (to balance the budget) are going to come and we're worried they could hit families hard."

"The government released yet another set of figures for deficit reduction today, and how much they are planning to cut, but still failed to provide any detail about which services or programs they are planning to cut," he said.

The International Monetary Fund has projected that only Canada and Germany among Group of Seven industrialized nations will return to budgetary surpluses by 2016.

According to Flaherty's figures, this year's deficit is projected to fall to CAN$36.2 billion from a record CAN$55.6 billion in fiscal 2009-2010 during the recession.

After winding down CAN$60 billion in stimulus spending, further trimming government spending across all departments and closing tax loopholes, the deficit would drop to CAN$300 million for the year ending March 31, 2015, according to the budget.

The following year -- based on the old plan -- Ottawa would post a small surplus. It would be only the second time in Canadian history that a Conservative government has done so.

The Canadian economy, meanwhile, is forecast to grow 2.9 percent this year after surging in late 2010, the government said.

Private sector economists cited by the finance department still see the prospects for stronger global growth, but expressed new concerns that "growth dynamics in the United States could be less strong than previously anticipated."

They also emphasized European debt concerns while playing down previously cited risks such as oil price volatility and the effects of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

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