Canada recorded a sharply higher C$6.50 billion ($4.71 billion) budget deficit for the first two months of the 2025/26 fiscal year as government expenditures grew but revenues stalled, the finance ministry said on Friday. By comparison, the deficit in the same period a year earlier had been just C$3.82 billion, it said in a statement. Program expenses rose 4% on increases across all major categories of spending. Public debt charges increased by 3.8% largely because of higher rates of government bonds.