On June 6th, the Conservatives presented their new budget after securing a majority government in the recent election. The budget was passed by a vote of 167 to 131 on the 13th of June. The budget is almost identical to the budget presented in March except for two things: $2.2 billion will go to Quebec for their harmonization of sales-tax to fulfill a conservative campaign promise, and the per-vote subsidy given to parties will be phased out, finally making parties self-reliant and allows a more sensible allocation of taxpayers’ dollars. Other than those two items, the budget remains unchanged and still includes items such as:
– $450 Firefighter Tax Credit
– Temporary Hiring Credits for Small Businesses
– Elimination of Mandatory Retirement Age
– Extension of EcoENERGY retrofit program
– $600 Guaranteed Income Supplement increase for single seniors. $840 for couples.
– Up to $500 Children’s Art Tax Credit
– Doctors in rural areas will get up to $40,000 in student loans forgiven and nurses will get up to $20,000 forgiven
– $20 million to support young entrepreneurs
Also in the new budget that carried over from the previous one is the government’s promise to get rid of the deficit by 2014-2015 by cutting costs and jobs of government offices.
The Conservatives showed that the budget they presented in March is truly what they want for Canada. They could have passed any budget, but they chose to keep the old one. The budget’s main focus seemed to be to help hard working families by giving them tax cuts, helping them save for retirement and to help seniors make ends meet.
Opposition Leader Jack Layton and the NDP proposed an amendment to have the budget include measures for jobs, doctors and seniors… which was stricken down. Good job, Jackieboy; you used the full extent of your influence in parliament!
Now that Canada’s economy has improved substantially, the government is trying to get rid of the deficit spending that was needed during the recession and get us out of the red ink. And although the details of the reduced spending are not all known yet, the budget seems to be a good inclination of a prosperous year to come.
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