Photo: The Canadian Press

Five things to know about the Liberals government's 2017-18 budget.

1. There's no plan to balance it. The Liberal government continues to push for increased spending — though not a lot of it in this document — as the main driver for economic growth in Canada and as such, they don't have a plan for when they'll wrestle down the deficit.

2.That deficit is shrinking, though. It stands now at $23 billion, down from $25.1 billion in the last fiscal update, and while it's projected to reach $25.5 billion for 2017-18 — not including a $3 billion contingency fund — it declines to $15.8 billion in 2021-22.

3.The cupboard is bare, for now. The budget's light on spending and long on vision — most of the new money it proposes doesn't kick in until the next fiscal year, co-incidentally the same one that will precede the next federal election.

4. Donald who? While the budget makes mention of the fact Canada's economy could be sideswiped by which direction the U.S. goes, there are no measures explicitly in the budget to respond to some of the signs U.S. president Donald Trump has already been giving on where he will go, like dramatically lowered taxes and promoting Buy American policies.

5. It looks at old programs in a new way. For the first time in Canadian history, the budget document also includes a "gender statement" that takes a look at how some of its measures will impact women and girls, described as the first step towards a deeper gender-based analysis in next year's budget.

Here are some highlights from the 2017 federal budget:

— Employment insurance premiums are going up five cents to $1.68 per every $100 of insurable earnings, up from $1.63 — the maximum allowable increase under the Employment Insurance Act.

— The deficit is at $23 billion, down from $25.1 billion in the last fiscal update, and is projected to reach $28.5 billion for 2017-18 — including a $3 billion contingency fund — before declining to $18.8 billion in 2021-22.

— The 71-year-old Canada Savings Bond program, first established in 1946, is no longer cost effective and is being phased out.

— Higher taxes on alcohol and tobacco products: the excise duty rate on cigarettes goes up to $21.56 per carton of smokes from $21.03, while the rates on alcohol are going up two per cent. Both will be adjusted every April 1 starting next year, based on the consumer price index.

— The public transit tax credit, which allows the cost of transit passes to be deducted, is being eliminated effective July 1.

— The budget dedicates $11.2 billion to cities and provinces for affordable housing over 10 years as part of the second wave of the government's infrastructure program, $5 billion of which is to encourage housing providers to pool their resources with private partners to pay for new projects.

— An "innovation and skills plan" to foster high-tech growth in six sectors: advanced manufacturing, agri-food, clean technology, digital industries, health/bio-sciences and clean resources