Mark Carney promises a generational budget even though his government’s lifespan could now be measured in weeks

Mark Carney and his finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, have been dialling up expectations for the budget coming in less than two weeks.

So it was a surprise on Tuesday to hear another cabinet member dialling things way down — even raising the prospect that the budget might fail.

“What I’m seeing in Parliament worries me,” said Steven MacKinnon, the Government House Leader. He was talking about the growing sense he’s getting that the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois might be willing to trigger an election to vote down the budget.