With Monday’s federal budget coming with almost a $355-billion deficit attached to it, Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrsytia Freeland says their plan is to reduce that debt by $200-billion this fiscal year.

Freeland spoke with 620 CKRM’s Gloria Evans and Cody Glydon Tuesday morning and said one thing they wanted to address in the budget was the cost facing farmers when it comes to the carbon tax.

“There’s going to be a special set aside rebate for famers, because I know that in many cases farm fuel in general is purple fuel for farmers and there’s a good reason for that, I also know in many cases farmers have no alternative to fossil fuels,” Freeland said.

Freeland said she grew up on a farm and said she is very aware of the concerns surrounding grain drying and the added costs the carbon tax are bringing to that.

Full interview with Chrystia Freeland below: