The Federal
budget finally appeared – two days before the end of the Federal Government’s
fiscal year. I guess they wanted to put off the bad
news for as long as possible.
We were
looking for a budget that emphasizes job creation and the needs of working
families: a budget that would support the fragile economic recovery by
continuing with job-creating stimulus investments in infrastructure; a budget
that doesn’t put the economic recovery at risk by making deep depending cuts to
services; and a budget that protects the services that working families rely on.
But, what
did we get?
Instead we
got a budget that makes deep cuts to the front-line services that working
families count on. It closes every youth
jobs centre in Canada (the $6.5 million savings are about half the $12 million
that the Harper government is spending to advertise this budget); it will cut
the number of centres that process Employment Insurance claims from 120 to 20;
and within 5 years, front-line health care will begin to suffer from the
budget’s commitment to slash federal health transfers to the provinces.
How will
this budget impact working families?
This budget
means the middle class will continue to shrink as almost 20,000 good,
family-supporting jobs are cut. It will
hurt the middle class that has been the engine of our economic prosperity since
the Second World War.
This budget means
working families will be more on their own in saving for retirement. People 53 and younger will have to wait two
more years before they become eligible for Old Age Security and the Guaranteed
Income Supplement. Federal civil servants will have to make up for cuts to
their pensions.
The budget
also means more injuries in federally regulated workplaces. The Harper government has already cut the number
of inspectors who enforce workplace health and safety rules by 15%. That’s why federally regulated workpalces are
the only workplaces in Canada where the average injury rate is actually getting
worse. This will just get worse with
federal job cuts.
Harper the
Vindictive reappeared in this budget. During
the last election Conservatives insisted they had no plans to cut the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation’s budget. But a
media outlet that actually does its job and looks beyond the government news
release and points out the reality of what’s going on is just too tempting a
target for Conservative cuts. There’s an
easy $115 million to pluck and the bonus for Harper is that it will silence one
of the few reliable media voices that doesn’t swallow Harper’s guff holus
bolus.
I’m glad to
see there are going to be new investments in running water and education for
First Nations communities. That’s a good
step forward but it’s not nearly enough.
Clearly the
deficit needs to be addressed, but let’s be sensible about it. The approach in this budget could actually
make it worse. As we have seen in recent months, the global economic recovery
is very fragile and leading economists have cautioned Canada not to put it at
risk by making deep cuts in federal spending. Just look at Europe where country after
country is slipping back into recession because they took their foot off the
stimulus pedal too soon.
The best way
to restore balance is to get Canadians working again. When the economy is
operating on all cylinders, tax revenues go up and spending on services comes
down. That’s how you get back to balance.
Deep cuts
will only hurt the recovery and reinforce the economic pressures that caused
the deficit in the first place.
Our top
priority should be economic recovery and getting Canadians back to work. With
the global economic recovery at risk I would have expected a renewal of the
federal stimulus program to invest in job creating infrastructure projects.
Instead of
deep cuts to front-line services, I would have closed tax loopholes and breaks for
corporations and high-income Canadians.
When Canada’s highest paid CEOs cash in stock options, they should be
taxed at the same rate that other working Canadians are taxed. This loophole costs
the federal government $750 million/year. We can’t afford that anymore and it’s
not fair.
We need to
put a stop to Canada’s failed corporate tax cut experiment. Canada’s corporate
tax rate is now far below the US rate, yet instead of reinvesting their tax
savings into job creating investments, Canadian corporations have stockpiled
more than $500 billion in cash. We could support public services and stay
competitive by letting the corporate tax rate rise to at least the US rate.
Canada
needed a budget that prioritizes jobs and services for working families.
Instead we got front-line service cuts and layoffs that will put the fragile
economic recovery at risk.
