FM: Canada to run deficits until 2015

Canada's federal government will run deficits until 2015, a year later than previously projected, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Tuesday. Along with confirming the red ink will flow longer than had been expected as recently as March, Flaherty said an increase in employment insurance premiums employees and employers must pay beginning Jan. 1 will be cut in half, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Speaking to Calgary's Chamber of Commerce, Flaherty also said the government will extend a work-sharing program that lets some employers retain thousands of skilled workers while they deal with money problems, the CBC said. Under the program, the government will supplement the pay of workers dropped to part-time status. About 15,000 Canadians are on the program. Flaherty also said the government and the Bank of Canada renewed an agreement to try to keep inflation at about 2 percent a year until 2016, the CBC said.