When confronted by a suddenly slumping economy, government reactions tend to range from denial to panic.

Or, in the case of the downturn seven years ago, both.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government spent the 2008 campaign and the first few months of its second mandate denying Canada was careening toward a recession, despite plenty of evidence foreshadowing an oncoming crash.

Then they abruptly opened the vault to the roll out the largest deficit in Canadian history.

Money for construction gushed forth even before funding application forms had been printed.

Denial became panic in less than 60 days.

So far, Justin Trudeau's fledgling government has avoided either extreme. And if whispers from reliable sources are correct, they're poised to roll out an economic reaction which stops short of overreacting.

Internal plans call for the budget to be brought down in March, likely on the 22nd. Sources say initial pressure by the Prime Minister's Office to keep the deficit below $15 billion -- which is already up 50 per cent from the promised $10-billion cap -- has eased.

I'm told Justin Trudeau will let the deficit go higher for infrastructure spending with an emphasis on green projects, but only with the proviso that the finance minister spreadsheet a way to return the budget to balance by 2019.

There will likely be a tweak to improve the child benefit and a pot of cash to begin implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations but, for the most part, many costly campaign promises will be back-loaded onto future budgets.

Of course, the big caveat is that Budget 2016 is still very much a work in progress.

But early signals suggest this government won't throw fiscal caution to the wind and booster-shot infrastructure spending into an economy that's not in recession.

This is not the time to deny Canada faces a challenging transition from Alberta oil lubricating its economic engine to a low loonie-fuelled manufacturing and hi-tech uptick.

But there's no reason to panic either.

We'll know for sure in about six weeks if the Trudeau budget forecasts partial economic sun - with cash raining down only where it's needed the most.

And that's the Last Word.