With the first budget in two years expected to be tabled in the near future, observers are wondering how the government will anchor fiscal policy and approach balancing pandemic spending requirements while taming the skyrocketing federal debt. Allan Tupper, political science professor at the University of British Columbia, says the Trudeau government must balance pandemic demands with fiscal realities. “I see this as an effort to reassure the public that they understand that the COVID-19 pandemic has extracted a powerful impact on the economy and on many Canadians’ lives and finances,” Tupper said in an interview. “On the other hand, they have to give evidence that they’re aware of the amount of fiscal burden the Government of Canada has taken on … [and offer] answers about how and who is going to be paying for these very large expenditures.” Tupper expects that provinces that ask for more will get turned …