The thing that interests me about the timing is that the expenditure budgets are usually set, I believe—and you should check this with the Treasury Board—by about the end of January at the latest. I don't know if that information was given to you by the Treasury Board, but I'd be surprised if it's any later than that.
I don't see any problem in having the budget speech at about that time when the government knows what it's spending. I don't see any reason why the estimates shouldn't have a regular time for being tabled, say, in February, and the budget speech is given at that time and then the estimates go on to the committees.
I think that would be just fine. I suspect the Treasury Board, Department of Finance, and Privy Council Office wouldn't agree with me on that. But I'm sure that some of the provinces do it closer to that schedule than the federal one.