Federal Budget
Posted Jun 6, 2011 05:26:09 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Harper government has presented a deja vu budget with only two new measures — cash for Quebec and a lump of coal for their political rivals.
The first budget of the Tory majority era largely mirrors the one Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivered barely two months ago.
Opposition Leader Jack Layton says he’s disappointed the budget had little for poor seniors and improving the health system.
The New Democrats under Layton had campaigned during the election campaign to boost spending for seniors and to help hire new doctors.
Liberal Leader Bob Rae calls it a “groundhog budget,” saying it’s the same old story from the Conservatives, with few details.
Flaherty acknowledges there’s a lack of detail on where the government plans to cut $4 billion annually to balance the books by fiscal 2014/15, but, he says those details will come after the government completes a strategic review of program spending.
The new budget does include about $2.2 billion for Quebec for harmonizing its sales tax with the G-S-T and it promises to phase out taxpayer subsidies to political parties.
