Canadians across the country are waiting to hear about what cuts are in store in the new budget to be handed down on Thursday by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

Flaherty shopped for the traditional ‘budget' shoes in Ottawa on Wednesday and said there would be cuts, but it shouldn't be seen as an ‘austerity' budget.

He is insistent that the Harper government won't touch health care, education, or social services.

CTV News has also learned the $1,000 small-business hiring credit will be extended, immigration admission will be tied more closely to labour shortages and billions in research dollars will be overhauled in the budget.

Flaherty has said his cuts will target the bureaucracy, not services for Canadians.

The budget's theme is reportedly "jobs, growth, and long term prosperity."

"The majority of the spending review reductions relate to back-office operations in government. They don't relate to service delivery by government," he told reporters Wednesday.

He said his austerity program would be modest compared to former finance minister Paul Martin's budgets for the Liberals during the 1990s.

In preparation for this year's budget, Flaherty asked every department to find budget savings scenarios of between five and 10 percent, for possible spending cuts totaling between $4B and $8B.

The House of Commons announced its own belt-tightening plan the day before the budget, with the all-party committee that oversees MP's budgets agreeing to cut spending by 6.9 per cent over the next three years.

The spending cuts will save $30.3 million. The cuts include a reduction in MP office budgets of under two per cent and a 7.5 per cent reduction to opposition party leaders' offices.

Flaherty's budget is expected to only outline the broad strokes, with few details about the exact programs and services that will be lost.

The exact measures will only roll out over the next few months, but will likely include changes to Old Age Security, thousands of government job cuts, reforms to MP pensions and changes to immigration and regulatory review processes that are meant to stimulate the economy.

With files from ctv.ca