Forty billion dollars in new spending- and all kinds of goodies in many many categories could be viewed as akin to walking into a luxury car showroom and asking “Who’s paying for all this?”
That’s Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke Member of Parliament Cheryl Gallant, who says Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is committing moneys she’ll never get to spend.
The MP says a number of things have irked her about Freeland’s 2024 Budget document.
NATO won’t be happy- while on the surface we’re getting closer to 2 percent GDP, as the Liberal government plans to boost military spending to 1.76 per cent by 2030, it’s smoke and mirrors.
Although the Finance Minister looks with pride on an initiative that addresses the acknowledged sub-standard disability benefit, throwing cash at the disadvantaged is not an operative equation.
With the threat of climate change, the local member is discouraged with the only half-hearted commitment to a clean, reliable nuclear power supply.
Chrystia Freeland made several gestures toward increasing housing availability.
In hopes of building nearly 3.9 million new homes across Canada by 2031, the government plans to allow builders larger tax write-offs; and first-time home buyers acquiring new build dwellings will now be able to spread their mortgages over a thirty-year repayment period.
Gallant believes no matter how many positive adjectives the Finance Minister has used, there’s no sense in waxing hypothetical about a brave new Liberal world.
The 2024 Budget, although presented in a minority Parliament, will most likely be adopted under the Grits’ confidence and supply agreement with the NDP- and could well be the last budget before a 2025 Federal Election.
By Rick Stow
