Finance Minister Joe Oliver tables balanced federal budget
Posted Apr 21, 2015 04:29:21 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Conservative government is making good on its promise to deliver a balanced budget in advance of the scheduled federal election in October, but it comes at a cost.
The budget introduced today by Finance Minister Joe Oliver projects a $1.4-billion surplus for 2015-16, but the government’s rainy-day contingency fund, usually a robust $3 billion. will be just $1 billion until 2019.
The budget also reveals that the controversial sale earlier this month of the government’s remaining shares of General Motors yielded a net gain of $2.1 billion, fully half of which has been applied to the bottom line.
The election-year budget includes changes to registered retirement income funds to allow seniors to preserve their nest eggs, a near-doubling of the contribution limit on tax-free savings accounts and six months of compassionate-care benefits for Canadians caring for gravely ill family members.
It also provides $750 million over two years starting in 2017-18, plus $1 billion a year thereafter, for a public-private partnership fund to promote investment in public transit.
The Canadian military will get an additional $11.8 billion over 10 years, starting in 2017, while the RCMP, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Canada Border Services Agency will get nearly $300 million over five years for anti-terror efforts.
