Local Conservative MPs slam federal budget

Local Conservative MPs are slamming this week’s federal budget as irresponsible for the average Canadian.

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MP Dave Epp (C-Chatham-Kent-Leamington, said the skyrocketing cost of living requires more fiscal responsibility from the governing Liberals.

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He said the Conservatives had asked for three things: axing, or at least pausing, the carbon tax; housing measures; and a dollar-for-dollar rule, matching every dollar of new spending with new savings.

“We need to bring some overall responsibility to federal spending,” Epp said Wednesday. “This budget doesn’t do that.

“What we were really, really looking for was what’s on Canadians’ minds. What’s affecting their daily lives.”

The budget increased spending to more than $530 billion for 2024-25, with more than $11 billion in new spending largely focused on housing, student aid and grants, along with pharmacy and funding the long-promised disability benefit.

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But that $200-a-month benefit falls short of what advocates were hoping for.

Epp added while there is money for housing, there are “no metrics” listed, adding that spending and inflation are the real issues.

“It’s the interest rates right now that are keeping people back from buying homes,” he said. “The expense of a mortgage.”

MP Lianne Rood (C-Lambton-Kent-Middlesex), the shadow minister for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Eastern, Central, and Southern Ontario, also was critical.

“Budgets are a road map, a sign of what the government stands for, what its priorities are, and what we can expect in the future,” she said by email.

“What we see in the 430-page omnibus spending plan is a government that shows no fiscal restraint and offers nothing of substance for financially hurting Canadians.”

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Rood noted the tax burden to pay interest on “ever-growing national debt has increased substantially,” saying it’s $2 billion more than projected a few months ago.

“This year, Canada will spend $54.1 billion to service Trudeau’s debt,” she said. “This is more money than the government is sending the provinces for health care.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused the Conservatives of siding with “multi-millionaires” and standing against fairness over their decision to oppose the federal budget.

Wednesday morning, Trudeau said it isn’t right that multi-millionaires are asked to pay less tax on capital gains than a teacher or electrician pays on their income.

He said the change would not affect 99.87 per cent of the population and does not apply to the sale of anyone’s primary residence.

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Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland are billing the budget as a fairness plan for younger Canadians.

The people being asked to pay more are among the ones “who’ve benefited from an economy that seems tipped towards them and away from everyone else, particularly young people,” Trudeau said.

“So we’re asking them to pay their fair share so that younger generations can have the same opportunities that Xers, boomers and other generations had when they were starting out in their lives.”

The capital gains tax change is expected to raise $19 billion over five years, by increasing the portion of taxable capital gains from 50 per cent to 66 per cent.

The change will apply to corporations, trusts and individuals whose capital gains exceed $250,000 in a year.

With files from The Canadian Press

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