CONSERVATIVES COMPLETELY OUT OF TOUCH WITH EVERYDAY REALITY OF CANADIANS AND COMMUNITIES

FEDERAL BUDGET: CONSERVATIVES COMPLETELY OUT OF TOUCH WITH EVERYDAY REALITY OF CANADIANS AND COMMUNITIES
Federal budget puts Canada back on flawed track that led to recession: Savoie

OTTAWA – Victoria MP Denise Savoie today expressed astonishment that the federal Conservative government has tabled a budget that is completely out of touch with the everyday reality and priorities of Canadians and communities.

“Budgets are about choices, and the Conservatives have clearly chosen the interests of big business over Canadian citizens and their families,” said Savoie. “The compassionate, collective society that the majority of Canadians want has been thrown out the window. It’s every woman, man and child for herself – the very opposite of what it means to be Canadian.”

The federal budget reverted to the Conservatives’ roots of corporate tax breaks, deregulation, and cutting government services that Canadians rely on. It froze foreign aid spending at 0.35% of GDP while allowing defence spending to climb to four times higher than the aid budget, and it ended the popular Homelessness Partnering Initiative, which provided $1.25 million for affordable housing in the Victoria region last year.

“The budget speech actually rubbed the $1.5-billion corporate tax cut in the face of a quarter-million Canadian seniors living in poverty, who received a special new Seniors’ Day instead of pension reform,” said Savoie. “Single parents got a token $3.25 a week – not even a return bus ride for one.”

“Of course this federal government doesn’t see the daily challenges of Canadians,” said Savoie. “They have downloaded responsibility to other levels of government. Meanwhile, local governments have to hike property taxes and cut services to cope with reckless federal tax policy,” she said.

The most damaging aspects of the budget are the moves to deregulation in key industries like uranium mining with considerable environmental and social impacts, and the opening of Canadian markets to foreign interests without commensurate moves by other countries, said Savoie.

“This recession has been one huge warning sign against deregulation,” said Savoie. “They tried deregulating the housing market and had to backtrack, but now they are moving full steam ahead. I am especially troubled that they would slash environmental assessments from the very agency designed to conduct them, and hand that responsibility to the National Energy Board populated with oil and gas executives. It is pure madness.”

Savoie cannot support the federal budget as it is written. She will work with her New Democrat caucus colleagues in the coming days to secure constructive amendments to the deeply flawed document.