For one Scarborough Liberal MP, the federal budget provided nothing new to Canadians and neglected some important areas.
Scarborough-Agincourt MP Jim Karygiannis said he didn't hear anything in the budget that he believes will help average Canadians."I don't understand why we broke Parliament. I don't understand what re-calibrating meant. I didn't hear anything new in the budget," he said."What is new in this? There's nothing that says we're stimulating new jobs. There's nothing there that addresses the average Canadian." Work being done in committees, such as the citizenship and immigration committee Karygiannis sits on, was lost when Parliament was prorogued and after hearing the latest Speech from the Throne and federal budget Karygiannis doesn't understand why. He believes nothing new or different was introduced in either, and further, he said several important areas have been completely neglected. "One of the things that is of interest to me and my constituents is the immigration file and the lack of this government to give more money to the minister (of immigration," he said.Because of delays and the lack of resources for immigration, families are being subjected to lengthy separation, he said."We need to have more resources to address the immigration file," Karygiannis said. "We're a country of immigrants."In addition, he would have also liked to have seen resources and programs to help small business not just large companies struggling in the current economic climate."The other thing we have to do is make sure we're not only supporting large corporations, but also mom and pop operations," he said. Karygiannis believes there are no better ambassadors to send aboard to make trade relationships than those who have immigrated to Canada and made a life for themselves. He would have liked to have seen support for business councils or the Business Development Bank of Canada to that end."I would have liked to see more money to the business councils...that are doing work aboard," he said.With all of the holes he sees in the budget, Karygiannis said he will not be supporting it. At the same time though, the Liberals don't want to trigger an election. He said they want to earn the respect of the Canadian people and are awaiting the public to let them know when it's time to go to the polls.Karygiannis, who continues to win his seat by huge margins, is ready."I would love to call an election at a moment's notice," he said. "Bring it on. I'm ready."