The federal government released its 2019 budget March 19 with a focus on measures it says are supporting Canada’s middle class.
“Nearly four years ago, Canadians chose a plan that invested in the things that matter most to them: good, well-paying jobs; more help for families with the high cost of living; strong, connected communities; and better opportunities for our children and grandchildren,” federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau said in a press release. “These are Canadians’ priorities, and they are ones our Government shares. Budget 2019 is the next step in our plan to invest in the middle class and build a strong economy that works for the middle class—and for all Canadians.”
In Budget 2019: Investing in the Middle Class, the Government of Canada proposes to:
• Make home ownership more affordable for first-time buyers by implementing a First-Time Home Buyer Incentive, a shared equity mortgage program that would reduce the mortgage payments required to own a home; and by providing greater access to their Registered Retirement Savings Plan savings to buy a home.
• Help workers gain new skills with the creation of the new Canada Training Benefit, a benefit that will give workers money to help pay for training, provide income support during training, and, with the cooperation of the provinces and territories, offer job protection so that workers can take the time they need to keep their skills relevant and in-demand.
• Prepare young Canadians for good jobs by helping make education more affordable through lowered interest rates on Canada Student Loans, making the six-month grace period interest-free after a student loan borrower leaves school, and creating up to 84,000 new student work placements per year by 2023-24.
• Help Canadians with the cost of prescription drugs by taking steps towards a national pharmacare plan, starting with creating a new Canadian Drug Agency that could lower Canadians’ drug costs by as much as $3 billion per year, developing a national formulary for prescription drugs, and a national strategy for high-cost drugs for rare diseases.
• Support low-income Canadian seniors who choose to stay in the workforce by enhancing the Guaranteed Income Supplement earnings exemption so that they can effectively keep more of their hard-earned income.
• Support municipalities’ local infrastructure priorities by proposing a one-time top-up of $2.2 billion through the federal Gas Tax Fund that will double the Government’s commitment to municipalities in 2018-19, and make sure communities have the funds they need to pay for crucial repairs and other important local projects.
• Give all Canadians access to high-speed Internet so all Canadian homes and businesses have access to 50 Mbps high-speed Internet no matter where they live—including people and businesses in rural, remote and northern communities.
• Lower Canadians’ energy costs by partnering with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to increase energy efficiency in residential, commercial and multi-use buildings, and by introducing a new incentive for buying electric battery or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price under $45,000.
• Advance reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples through new measures to help improve the quality of life for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples in Canada and advance self-determination with investments to improve water quality; preserve, revitalize, and promote Indigenous languages; improve the quality of education and health care for Indigenous children in a culturally relevant way; and promote Indigenous entrepreneurship and business.
In his speech, Morneau said Budget 2019 is taking more steps to make retirement more financially secure for more Canadians.
“To ensure that all Canadian workers receive the full value of the Canada Pension Plan benefits to which they contributed, we will proactively enroll Canada Pension Plan contributors who are 70 or older but have not yet applied to receive their retirement benefits,” he said. “With this one change, as many as 40,000 seniors will begin to receive an average of an extra $300 per month starting next year. And to help low-income working seniors, we’re enhancing the Guaranteed Income Supplement earnings exemption — so that seniors who wish to work can keep more of their pay and benefits.”
Budget 2019 projects a deficit of $19.8 billion in 2019-20 and notes that the deficit is projected to decline to $9.8 billion in 2023-24. The federal debt-to-GDP ratio is also expected to decline every year over the forecast horizon, reaching 28.6 per cent by 2023-24.
Real GDP growth in 2019 if forecast to be 1.8 per cent, while the outlook for GDP inflation is 1.6 per cent.
Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty released a statement March 19 calling Budget 2019 a cover up.
“With Budget 2019, Justin Trudeau is covering up his corruption under $41 billion of brand-new spending paid for by tax hikes if he’s re-elected,” stated Doherty, who is the Conservative Shadow Minister for Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard. “It is the most expensive cover up in the history of cover ups. Mr. Trudeau’s plan is obvious. Massive deficits to distract Canadians from his corruption before the election. Massive tax hikes to pay for them after the election. The good people of Cariboo-Prince George will not be distracted by Mr. Trudeau’s cover-up deficits. We demand answers on the SNC-Lavalin corruption scandal and we will do everything we can to get them.”
Doherty says the Conservatives will continue to oppose “Trudeau’s cover-up agenda” in the days ahead, and he said he and his Conservative colleagues would debate a motion on March 20 calling on Trudeau to waive privilege and allow former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to speak.
The Liberal majority shot down the Conservative motion calling on Trudeau to let Wilson-Raybould testify more fully about her allegation that she was improperly pressured to drop a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.
The motion was defeated by a vote of 161-134, setting the stage for “a Conservative-sponsored filibuster Wednesday night, requiring 257 separate votes on items in the government’s spending estimates,” according to an article by The Canadian Press.