Federal Liberal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled her first budget Monday, a forecast that will see Canada go further into record debt with continuing pandemic spending programs, and a new federal daycare spending program.Freeland said the deficit from last year will hit $354 billion, with it budgeted to fall to $155 billion this fiscal year. The Liberals are planning on having a non-COVID deficit of $30.7 billion in 2025-26, however, so far the Liberals have not kept spending inside the limits of a single budget..The total debt is expected to reach a new, all-time record of $1.4 trillion..It is the first budget the Liberals have tabled in two years..Total new spending in the first budget is to be $101.4 billion over the next three years..The budget predicts federal debt will hit 51.2% of GDP in 2021-22 before sliding back to 49.2% of GDP by 2025-26.Freeland announced the Liberals are going to put $30 billion into a federal daycare program with $8.5 billion spent on it to be over the next 5 years. Social policies, like daycare, is an area of provincial jurisdiction..By 2025, Freeland said all Canadians should be able to access $10-a-day care for their children. It’s unclear where the funding will come from for a program at that price. The budget proposes to create a 50% reduction in average fees for child care spaces by the end of 2022..“The world has learned the lesson of 2009, the cost of allowing economic hardship to fester,” Freeland said..“For some countries, democracy itself has been threatened by that mistake. We will not let that happen in Canada..“We have to finish the fight against COVID, and that costs a lot of money..“Extending these income and business support programs is absolutely essential — and it is expensive — but we know the country needs it.”.Seniors age 75 and older will get a one-time payment of $500 in August, and then a permanent 10% increase to benefits starting in July 2022..The government will spend $595-million to set up the Canada Recovery Hiring Program that businesses can use instead of the wage subsidy to help cover the cost of hiring back workers. .A new luxury sales tax is being placed on cars and personal aircraft worth over $100,000 and boats over $250,000.Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, without seeing the 739-page budget, said his party will support it to avoid sending the country into a spring election..The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) slammed what they said was the Trudeau government’s reckless plans to permanently increase federal government spending by nearly 30% by 2026. .“Make no mistake: the vast majority of measures in this budget have nothing to do with pandemic supports, and everything to do with exploiting a deadly crisis to indulge in a cynical, debt-fueled spending binge,” said CTF Federal Director Franco Terrazzano..“Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will increase permanent federal spending by more than $100 billion by 2026 with absolutely no idea how to pay for it.”.Many of the new permanent measures announced in Budget 2021 were not even being considered prior to the pandemic..“The Trudeau government now insists it has $30 billion to spend on a one-size-fits-all government daycare program?” said Terrazzano..“If they understood we could not afford such an enormous new program when the deficit was only $20 billion, how can they claim with a straight face we can now afford it with the deficit at $354 billion?.“Whether before, during or after the pandemic, and whether the economy is growing or not, this government only seems to have one solution to everything: borrow more and spend more.”.Budget 2021 also projects that the federal deficit will still be $30 billion by 2026, when debt interest payments are projected to rise to $39 billion annually..“By betting the house on ‘interest rates will stay low forever,’ Minister Freeland is playing roulette with Canada’s fiscal sustainability,” said Terrazzano..In spite of pledging not to raise taxes, Budget 2021 also introduces a raft of new taxes and tax hikes, including higher tobacco taxes, a vaping tax, sales taxes for digital services, and a luxury goods tax..Budget 2021’s only reference to spending restraint is a commitment to reduce government travel..“Canadians shouldn’t kid themselves: either spending will have to be reined in, or there will be walloping tax hikes coming eventually,” said Terrazzano..“In the meantime, the Trudeau government continues to kick the can down the road, leaving future generations to be stuck paying for their recklessness.”....more to come.Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
Federal Liberal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled her first budget Monday, a forecast that will see Canada go further into record debt with continuing pandemic spending programs, and a new federal daycare spending program.Freeland said the deficit from last year will hit $354 billion, with it budgeted to fall to $155 billion this fiscal year. The Liberals are planning on having a non-COVID deficit of $30.7 billion in 2025-26, however, so far the Liberals have not kept spending inside the limits of a single budget..The total debt is expected to reach a new, all-time record of $1.4 trillion..It is the first budget the Liberals have tabled in two years..Total new spending in the first budget is to be $101.4 billion over the next three years..The budget predicts federal debt will hit 51.2% of GDP in 2021-22 before sliding back to 49.2% of GDP by 2025-26.Freeland announced the Liberals are going to put $30 billion into a federal daycare program with $8.5 billion spent on it to be over the next 5 years. Social policies, like daycare, is an area of provincial jurisdiction..By 2025, Freeland said all Canadians should be able to access $10-a-day care for their children. It’s unclear where the funding will come from for a program at that price. The budget proposes to create a 50% reduction in average fees for child care spaces by the end of 2022..“The world has learned the lesson of 2009, the cost of allowing economic hardship to fester,” Freeland said..“For some countries, democracy itself has been threatened by that mistake. We will not let that happen in Canada..“We have to finish the fight against COVID, and that costs a lot of money..“Extending these income and business support programs is absolutely essential — and it is expensive — but we know the country needs it.”.Seniors age 75 and older will get a one-time payment of $500 in August, and then a permanent 10% increase to benefits starting in July 2022..The government will spend $595-million to set up the Canada Recovery Hiring Program that businesses can use instead of the wage subsidy to help cover the cost of hiring back workers. .A new luxury sales tax is being placed on cars and personal aircraft worth over $100,000 and boats over $250,000.Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, without seeing the 739-page budget, said his party will support it to avoid sending the country into a spring election..The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) slammed what they said was the Trudeau government’s reckless plans to permanently increase federal government spending by nearly 30% by 2026. .“Make no mistake: the vast majority of measures in this budget have nothing to do with pandemic supports, and everything to do with exploiting a deadly crisis to indulge in a cynical, debt-fueled spending binge,” said CTF Federal Director Franco Terrazzano..“Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will increase permanent federal spending by more than $100 billion by 2026 with absolutely no idea how to pay for it.”.Many of the new permanent measures announced in Budget 2021 were not even being considered prior to the pandemic..“The Trudeau government now insists it has $30 billion to spend on a one-size-fits-all government daycare program?” said Terrazzano..“If they understood we could not afford such an enormous new program when the deficit was only $20 billion, how can they claim with a straight face we can now afford it with the deficit at $354 billion?.“Whether before, during or after the pandemic, and whether the economy is growing or not, this government only seems to have one solution to everything: borrow more and spend more.”.Budget 2021 also projects that the federal deficit will still be $30 billion by 2026, when debt interest payments are projected to rise to $39 billion annually..“By betting the house on ‘interest rates will stay low forever,’ Minister Freeland is playing roulette with Canada’s fiscal sustainability,” said Terrazzano..In spite of pledging not to raise taxes, Budget 2021 also introduces a raft of new taxes and tax hikes, including higher tobacco taxes, a vaping tax, sales taxes for digital services, and a luxury goods tax..Budget 2021’s only reference to spending restraint is a commitment to reduce government travel..“Canadians shouldn’t kid themselves: either spending will have to be reined in, or there will be walloping tax hikes coming eventually,” said Terrazzano..“In the meantime, the Trudeau government continues to kick the can down the road, leaving future generations to be stuck paying for their recklessness.”....more to come.Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
