The federal budget tabled by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty Thursday, March 4 is a "very short-sighted, no-vision budget," said a North York Liberal MP.
"I think the budget has no vision," Yasmin Ratansi said. "Where is the money for the environment? It's an old party issue. People living in Don Valley East are incredibly concerned with (pollution from highways) and children developing asthma. There is zero money committed to the environment."The budget also failed to address pensions for older persons, Ratansi said, adding 1.6 million seniors in Canada live on $16,000 or less annually."We have a $56-million deficit and there is no measure for how to take us out of one," she said.York West MP Judy Sgro said the recently tabled budget contained many repeats from previous budgets."Flaherty is keeping his head in the sand," she said. "He is hoping and praying things turn around."Sgro, the official opposition critic for seniors and pensions, said there is a serious pension crisis in the country and the federal government has not moved to protect seniors from losing theirs. "Thirty per cent of Canadians have savings, that's it," she said. "We also have a huge unemployment rate and there is no talk about innovation or putting money into job creation. Freezing MP and ministers' salaries is not a plan to deal with the deficit."The new stimulus for 2010-'11 includes:- $3.2 billion in personal income tax relief;- More than $4 billion in additional benefits, training opportunities and employment insurance premium relief to help unemployed Canadians;- $7.7 billion in infrastructure stimulus to create jobs;- $1.9 billion to create the economy of tomorrow;- $2.2 billion to support industries and communitiesThe federal government will not raise taxes or cut major transfers for health care, education and pensioners.The deficit is projected to decline by almost half over the next two years to $27.6 billion in 2011-'12, and by two-thirds to $17.5 billion in 2012-'13. In 2014-'15, the deficit is projected to be $1.8 billion.