On Parliament Hill

During the 2015 federal election campaign, the Liberals repeatedly promised they would run deficits no greater than $10-billion a year, and would balance the budget by 2019, in time for the next election.

Rising Deficits and Debt:

While it comes as no big surprise, Budget 2017 again confirms that the Prime Minister broke his promise. The deficit will come in at approximately $28.5 billion this year and we will continue to see rising deficits with absolutely no promise of a return to balanced budgets.

Farmers and Rural Canadians Ignored:

Prime Minister Trudeau clearly does not understand rural Canadians. Budget 2017 confirms this because it does nothing to support our hard-working Canadian farmers. While there was some new funding for innovation, the government seemed to use this budget to simply issue a challenge to farmers and processors. The challenge? Grow your agri-food exports from $50 Billion to $75 Billion annually by the year 2025. However, the Liberals failed to provide any details regarding the next agricultural policy framework that farmers will be working within. The Liberals have literally left Canadian farmers in the dark.

There was also nothing new in this budget to help farmers deal with the growing labour crisis that is currently severely affecting their ability to grow their industry.

The Liberals are promising to launch a full review of rail service in Western Canada, but farmers are getting tired of waiting. They need dependable rail service to get their crops to market.

Eliminating Canada Savings Bonds:

The budget also missed the mark by ending the Canada Savings Bond program. Instead of eliminating it, the Trudeau Government should have revamped it to allow regular Canadians to participate in the new Canadian Infrastructure Bank. This could have allowed regular middle-class Canadians to participate in growing Canada’s infrastructure while enjoying a stable rate of return on their investments.

Jobs Disappearing for Young Canadians:

As far as young Canadians are concerned, those between the ages of 15-24 lost a combined 42,000 full time jobs last year. Again, instead of raising taxes, Justin Trudeau should focus on supporting policies that will create jobs for young Canadians.

Sadly, Liberal programs won’t help the vast majority of Canadian workers and businesses who now face much more intense competition from a low-cost, low-tax United States.

Conservatives will continue to be the voice of the taxpayer and we will not stay silent while Justin Trudeau nickel-and-dimes Canadians to death and forces our children and grandchildren to be burdened with paying off our country’s massive debt caused by his reckless spending habits.