After months of planning and preparation, the federal budget was announced last week.
The $60 billion package includes addressing the growing concerns of housing affordability and access, inflation, programs to address the climate crisis, and job and economic growth to be spent over the next five years, said Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
While a main focus of the budget is to drive the country forward from the financial debt, largely incurred from the COVID-19 pandemic, the projected debt is expected to sit at $113.8 billion for the 2021-22 fiscal year that ended last month, down from the $144.5 billion the Liberal government estimated during last fall’s fiscal update.
With the new fiscal year just beginning, next spring the deficit is expected to be $52.8 billion, with a steady decline forecasted each year, reaching a deficit of under $10 billion by the end of 2026-27 fiscal year, according to the proposed budget.
“The time for extraordinary COVID support is over… And we will review and reduce government spending because that is the responsible thing to do,” Freeland said last Thursday during the budget announcement.
While the new federal budget is still being assessed, there are major concerns about the “reckless spending” that will affect families and Canadians who are trying to get ahead amid rising costs of living, says Fort-McMurray-Cold Lake MP Laila Goodridge.
“One of the things that I have heard very clearly is that families - point-blank - can't afford more taxes and they are already struggling to pay their bills and put groceries on their table. This budget does nothing to address that. Families that are trying to save money to buy a house are out of luck.”
“Canadians are worse off today than they were six years ago, and the families that are struggling to pay their bills have been completely let down,” she said.
Opposition
Progressive Conservative Party Interim leader Candice Bergen, said after Thursday's budget was released, considering over $1 trillion in national debt is facing the country, an opportunity for fiscal responsibility on behalf of the Liberal party’s budget was not shown.
Goodridge, who is also the Shadow Minister of Families, Children and Social Development for the opposition party, agrees and says it is going to continue to make Canadians suffer and there will be challenges ahead for generations.
“My children and future generations are going to be left paying for the reckless spending that has been happening under this Liberal government,” said Goodridge.
“We have the highest inflation rate seen since 1972, it is massive,” she added. Inflation was a concern the Liberal party detailed in the budget, with plans to address the issue over the years.
“I don’t think the government is taking the serious cost of living crisis seriously and addressing a plan to make sure that families can meet their budgets at the end of each month,” said Goodridge.
Rural funding
One part of the budget announcement last week includes over $11 billion over six years to support Indigenous children, families and communities with health care, housing, water infrastructure on reservations and education in an effort to meet Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) targets nationally.
And for Canadians in rural and remote communities, the budget includes tens of billions to spend over the next five to 10 years to support infrastructure, jobs, housing, health care and net-zero climate initiatives.
Some of the programs include $4 billion over five years to help rural municipalities build 100,000 new homes, $470 million to help farmers reduce emissions, and $3.8 billion over eight years to create strategies and rural jobs through a new ‘Critical Minerals Strategy.’
Additionally, $1 billion to support rural tourism, and over $4 billion for programs to continue to increase rural broadband services and support rural municipalities affected by the pandemic were also included in the budget.
Moreover, a new program to increase doctors and nurses serving in rural communities will see roughly $26 million over four years in funding. The funds will go “to increase the forgivable amount of student loans” which will see up to $30,000 in loan forgiveness for nurses and up to $60,000 for doctors, the budget stated.
Goodridge says the funding is necessary considering the Obstetrics unit at the Lac La Biche W.J. Cadzow Hospital was closed for seven days last February due to a lack of surgical staff, and across the riding, she’s heard similar stories that have affected her constituents’ access to health care.
However, she says while the funding sounds promising, as a local representative, she has often heard that medical schools across the province have limited spaces for potential students, which in turn affects locally trained and qualified doctors and nurses who want to serve in remote areas.
“They talked about how there is a shortage of doctors and nurses in far too many rural communities and they listed,” areas in Atlantic Canada but failed to mention western provinces, she says.
“It’s a very serious issue in Atlantic Canada, but it’s a very serious issue in Lac La Biche.”
Ultimately, Goodridge says it will be a topic she is going to be focusing on alongside inflation and overall support for Canadians.
Ukrainian support and defence budget
The budget allocated roughly $8 billion in defence spending which includes $500 million to support Ukrainan efforts against the Russian-led invasion of Ukraine. Goodridge says while she’s happy to see resources allocated to support Ukrainian efforts it's not nearly enough to address their need and or Canada’s role overall.
“Our armed forces need serious investments,” she says. From purchasing aircrafts for combat, missile defence systems and meeting international military spending targets of other NATO members, which states that two per cent of each of the 30 nations’ GDP should be utilized for defence spending. Today, Canada currently commits roughly 1.5 per cent.
“Our allies have responded to the situation, and Canada, I think, should have done the same.”
National dental coverage
One of the new programs introduced in the budget was a $5.3 billion national dental care program tabled by a working deal between the federal Liberal and NDP governments. The program will be accessible to families who earn less than $90,000 a year alongside individuals who earn less than $70,000. The first year of the program will provide $300 million exclusively for children under 12 throughout 2022. The program is expected to expand for the genral Canadian population in the years to come. However, considering the new funding, Goodridge says the details of the program are very unclear.
“The devil is in the details. They haven’t provided what would really be included in the federal dental program and how it would be implemented,” she says. Ultimately, these details will need to be addressed considering the wide array of dental services and coverage available today, said Goodridge.
“There are so many questions I have, not even as an MP but as an individual. What happens to the private insures? Will they walk away from dental coverage?" she asked, adding, “With an announcement this large, there should be actual details and a better understanding of how it would be implemented.”
Climate incentive impacts for Albertans
Digesting the details of the 300-page document describing the budget will take time, in order to know the real impacts it will have on Albertans, said Alberta’s UCP Minister of Finance, Travis Toews, in a press release following the budget announcement.
One of the key components in the budget that is promising, says Toews, is the $2.6 billion tax credit to investment and support businesses that spend money on the Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) program.
“We are encouraged by the federal government’s response and increased incentives around carbon capture, utilization and storage technology. This is a critical part of our strategy to meet Canada’s long-term energy needs and climate goals.”
While the main concern for the province is ultimately the growing financial debt, similar to the federal Conservative Party, less spending in the budget should have been a priority, says Toews. The UCP government would have also liked to see equalization reform, more support for businesses and communication and consultations with provinces prior to the budget.
For Goodridge, as a representative working for the interest of Albertans, she says more was needed considering that the province is one of the largest economic contributors in the country, especially, because of how the rural Lakeland community is being impacted by rising gas prices.
“Frankly, when the cost of fuel goes up, the cost of everything that needs to be transported from point A to B goes up. That impacts families in Fort McMurray, Lac La Biche, Plamondon and Cold Lake at a higher rate than it impacts families in centers that are closer to major transportation hubs.”
Moving forward
Goodridge says it will take time for all of the details in the budget to be fully understood, but in the coming months as the Conservative Party reviews the impact, Conservative MPs will continue “fighting for Canadians.”
“I’m going to continue standing up and the Conservative Party is going to continue to stand up for the millions of Canadians who are left behind by this Liberal Government.”
