The deputy opposition leader says Monday's fiscal economic update provided no encouragement for Canadians that life will get better soon.

Candice Bergen says the federal government has a role to play in helping Canadians get back to some semblance of normal life, but the Liberal government's fiscal update provided no assurance of that happening any time soon.

"Canadians have sacrificed so much already and I know in Manitoba we want to get back to normal life. We can't keep shutting down our businesses, we can't keep telling people 'you have to stay at home, you can't see your loved ones, you can't see your family, you can't go to church.' That is not acceptable and yesterday the federal government should have presented a plan and some concrete measures to help Canadians and Manitobans to get out of this."

The MP for Portage-Lisgar says the Trudeau government needs to move forward on two fronts; rapid and at-home testing for COVID-19 in addition to a solid plan for a vaccine rollout.

"We know that vaccines aren't the only answer, but it certainly is something that the provincial governments and Canadians know will help with this and we saw no movement on that at all, no answers and no clarity."

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada should soon have a range of vaccines to choose from, once Health Canada puts them to the test.

Meanwhile, the Trudeau government is set to spend billions of dollars to help Canada's economy get through this pandemic Doing that, however, will push the government's deficit to almost 400 billion dollars, which is seven times more than the previous record of $55 billion recorded in 2010.

Bergen accused the Liberals of leading the country into dangerous territory similar to the debt crisis of the early 1990s.

"We're very close to those same numbers. When your GDP is at almost 60 per cent, which we're getting close to, that was the debt crisis of the 1990s. We have the highest debt in the G7 and our unemployment rate is still the second-highest, so this debt is a major concern."

Freeland says the federal government's unprecedented spending has helped stabilize the economy, which is why they plan to continue that approach.