The federal Liberals released their 2019 budget this week, promising continued investment in the middle class.
But what local Conservative MPs say they see is a smokescreen.
“Obviously, it’s a huge amount of spending. A lot of the promises they’re making, they’re not costed out,” Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MP Alex Nuttall said this week in an interview with BarrieToday.
Nuttall points to pharmacare as an example of an uncosted promise.
According to the budget, $35 million over four years will be alotted to Health Canada to establish a Canadian Drug Agency Transition Office to support the development of the Liberals’ vision of a national drug agency, however the cost of the Canadian Drug Agency is not listed in the budget.
“What is different (this time around) is the amount of new spending. It is an incredible amount of new spending,” said Nuttall. “It becomes completely untenable.
“The reality of the situation is they mismanaged the funds for four years. This is the year they promised we would be in a budget surplus,” he added.
Titled Investing in the Middle Class, the 2019 budget focuses on people through programs that create more affordable places to live, develop skills for a changing job market, lower prescription drug costs, support local infrastructure and create better connections to each other and the world through universal high-speed internet.
Nuttall says there was one thing he did like in the federal budget: the change in RRSP rules allowing a larger amount to be withdrawn for first-time homebuyers.
“That was something that was actually in (the Conservative) platform before, and something I fought very hard for to be in the platform throughout the 2015 election,” said Nuttall, adding that he only wishes the Liberals would have brought it forward sooner.
The changes being proposed will allow Canadians to raise the amount they can pull from their retirement savings plans to fund the purchase of their first homes, from $25,000 to $35,000.
“It’s not very often that I can say they took a good idea and ran with it,” he said with a laugh.
Nuttall adds that it’s his belief a lot of the promised spending is designed to distract from the Liberals’ current controversies.
“I think the result will be a whole bunch of spending if the Liberals are elected in the fall," he said. "It will likely be that they will either turn their backs on the promises or raise taxes significantly to pay for it, or both. From where I sit, it was a ploy to turn the page on what has been a very difficult time for the government because of the corruption related to SNC-Lavalin.”
Barrie-Innisfil MP John Brassard says he has concerns that the budget doesn’t cover the skyrocketing debt the country has incurred and concurs with Nuttall that the intention is to distract voters.
“Once again we see that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau have failed to address the increasing debt and deficit that the Liberals have inflicted on Canadians through misdirected spending,” Brassard said in a news release, adding that if the Liberals follow through that Canada would not return to a balanced budget until 2041.
“This is the same tactic used by former Liberal Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne just over a year ago to distract Ontario voters from the real issues of scandal and mismanagement of the Ontario economy,” he said.
Brassard said that the budget has no legitimacy and puts Canadians at risk.
“Justin Trudeau has shown he governs to protect himself and his friends,” Brassard said. “We know that the result will be higher taxes to pay for reckless budget deficits and reckless spending if the Liberals are re-elected.”
-- with files from Canadian Press
Federal budget 2019 highlights
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$1.7 billion over five years, and $586 million a year after that, for a Canada Training Benefit to help workers upgrade skills and acquire new ones while keeping their jobs. The benefit includes a $250-a-year tax credit to pay for training programs and access to employment insurance to cover living expenses for up to four weeks away from work.
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$1.18 billion over five years to toughen border security, including hiring more judges to handle judicial reviews of asylum applications.
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A federal deficit of $19.8 billion, including a $3-billion "risk adjustment," an increase of $200 million from last year's forecast. The Liberals' forecast again includes a gradual reduction in the deficit, but not quite as quickly as anticipated last year. By 2023-2024, the projected federal deficit is $11.4 billion.
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$3.9 billion for farmers in supply-managed industries affected by new trade agreements with Europe and a bloc of Pacific Rim countries.
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$2.2 billion for municipalities' and First Nations' infrastructure projects, through a one-time boost to the amount distributed through the federal gas-tax transfer.
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$1.2 billion over three years to enhance social services for Indigenous families and children, the main element in a package of spending aimed at Indigenous peoples.
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Lowering the interest rate on Canada Student Loans to the prime rate, from the current prime-plus-2.5-percentage-points.
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Creating a new Canadian Drug Agency to centralize the evaluations of the effectiveness and efficiency of new drugs and buy in bulk nationwide, instead of province-by-province.
Source: The Canadian Press
