Thompson-Kamloops-Cariboo Conservative MP Cathy McLeod says the importance of natural resources is not being acknowledged in the Federal Budget released to the House of Commons yesterday (Monday).
“There’s very little recognition in this budget for the importance of natural resources and how we make our mining industry work better or how we keep things going for our forestry industry and those sorts of areas which are sort of the lifeblood of our rural communities in western Canada and quite frankly across the country. there was a very limited acknowledgement of those important drivers of economic success.”
McLeod also noted the size of the budget and the planned deficit.
“It is the longest budget in terms of pages, over 700, and it’s the biggest spending budget in Canadian history. Certainly, those were two things that stood out very much, and the large number, the debt for this year, 354 billion. I do want to note, this has been an extraordinary time, and the government has taken on some extraordinary measures to help people through the pandemic and we have supported that. But for their plan for going into the future, I think the continued lack of concern even as the economy even as returns more robustly in terms of taking on more and more debt, and that worries me to be quite frank.”
McLeod says she disagrees with Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s statement that the budget is reasonable, sustainable, and prudent.
“I would certainly suggest to her that it is none of the above. It’s not reasonable, it’s not sustainable, nor is it prudent. At least we have a budget after two years, we know what the government intends, but it was clearly an election budget with something for everyone, but not necessarily focused on a plan for economic recovery and how do we get our economy flying on all cylinders as we look to come out of this recession.”
Cariboo-Prince George Conservative MP Todd Doherty says a lot of the budget promises announced by the Liberals yesterday will take too long to come to fruition.
Doherty told Vista Radio while investments into mental health and child care are good places to start, many businesses and sectors need immediate assistance.
“My concern is that we need the money now. Many grassroots organizations need those dollars now to help Canadians and our Crisis Centre here in Prince George is doing great work answering the phone and making sure someone was is there if they need to ask for help.”
He added while 30-billion dollars are being committed to a national child care program, that promise may never materialize.
“Many of the provinces won’t be kicking in until the second or third year, which there is a chance we might not be in this parliament by then. We’ll have an election by then so a lot of this stuff that is being promised may not even be realized.”
“I’d rather see a legacy of action rather than shiny documents that collect dust on shelves.”
– With files from Brendan Pawliw, MyPGNow.com staff