OTTAWA – The Conservative government is using a new digital strategy to help launch the 2013 federal budget.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will be tweeting throughout the day to give Canadians an inside look at what it’s like to be a finance minister going through budget day.

The Finance Department is also live streaming Flaherty’s budget speech, by using an enhanced format. This means the government will pop messages up on the screen to try and explain the fiscal details.

University of Windsor political scientist Cheryl Collier said the government is starting to understand the power of social media when it comes to political marketing.

“It’s a way to engage with voters outside of just the way the media covers the budget, and that’s normally the way most people digest the budget. So it allows them to have a little more control over this,” Collier said.

The Conservatives are also making sure the online version of the budget is available on all tablets an mobile phones.

Flaherty will deliver the budget at 4 p.m. EDT in the House of Commons.