OTTAWA – Federal Finance and National Revenue François-Philippe Champagne may have tabled a budget to “Build Canada Strong”, Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry MP Eric Duncan said it does anything but.
“I call it a Brookfield Budget,” Duncan told The Leader, referring to Brookfield Asset Management, the investment corporation Prime Minister Mark Carney ran before becoming Liberal leader earlier this year.
“The deficit is $18 billion higher than they said it would be,” Duncan said. “[Conservatives] cannot support the budget.”
The MP said there were a number of shortfalls in the budget besides the higher deficit like the housing accelerator program that carried over from the previous Liberal government. Conservative MPs have been criticised by the government for not allowing applications from their ridings, however several cannot because how social housing is operated in parts of Ontario.
“Cornwall operates housing through a Shared Services Agreement with the Counties. A service manager looks after that, but the way the program continues to be structured, only municipalities can directly apply to the fund for their community.”
He said that having a city operate housing for SDG Counties, in a two-tier municipal government structure, South Dundas would have to own the housing to qualify for funds.
Duncan also railed against the increase in debt due to the projected deficits and increased capital spending by the feds. In discussing the debt servicing charges, he said the interest costs will exceed what the federal portion of the HST is, and costs more than health care transfers paid to the provinces and territories.
“It’s easy to explain how to spend money, not how to pay for it,” he added.
Duncan spoke of affordability for families, saying there was little to help with making home ownership more affordable or dealing with the cost of food.
“There are 2.2 million people accessing food banks, there’s nothing for these Canadians in the budget,” he said.
The budget passed a key confidence motion last week, but has not yet made it through the House of Commons. The Carney government is two seats shy of a majority government after Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont crossed the floor from the opposition Conservatives to the governing Liberals. Duncan was not asked to comment on the floor crossing.
Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said the Conservatives would not vote for the budget, while the Bloc Québécois will also not support the budget. Green Party Elizabeth May said she also will not support the budget, leaving the seven members of the NDP caucus to determine if Canadians will head back to the polls for a Christmastime election or not. .
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