(OTTAWA) The Liberals have done enough to honor their “support agreement” with the New Democrats, but that doesn’t mean the federal budget will pass without reservation.
Posted at 3:26 p.m.
“We still have some criticism,” said New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh on Thursday, when the budget had just been tabled in the Commons. “We are concerned, deeply concerned, about the approach [libérale] on the environment. »
Singh said the government should have spent more on clean energy, instead of subsidizing fossil fuel companies.
The New Democrats maintained this position on Friday during Question Period in the Commons. Montreal MP Alexandre Boulerice argued that the billions in subsidies to oil and gas companies and the approval of the Bay du Nord project in Newfoundland and Labrador show that the Liberals believe they can solve the climate crisis by pouring more money to the fossil fuel sector.
Instead, he called for funding to transition to green jobs, a sentiment echoed by his Alberta colleague Heather McPherson. She called for training programs on clean jobs for workers in her province, and the passage of legislation on a just transition to a green economy.
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson responded that there is significant funding for Alberta and other Prairie provinces that want to diversify their economies, as well as $4 billion to support the development of the critical minerals sector .
“We will actively work with the Province of Alberta and with industry to ensure that we move forward in a way that will create a clean economy, a prosperous economy and help workers and communities this transition,” said the Minister.
Too spendthrift, according to the Conservatives
The Conservatives, for their part, have focused on heavy spending promises in this budget that they say will increase inflation and make it harder for Canadians to join or stay in the middle class. Finance critic Ed Fast accused the Liberal government of tabling a “tax then spend” budget.
“Every day we ask this government what it is doing to make life more affordable for Canadians and every day it tells us how much money it is spending,” he said. “It’s not about how much money you spend: it’s about the results you get, and by that standard, this government has failed. »
Rachel Bendayan, Associate Minister of Finance, responded that her government’s investments were producing results, pointing to Statistics Canada jobs data, released on Friday, which showed the unemployment rate had fallen to a low not seen since the late 1970s.
Friday was the first of four days of debate on the government’s motion to implement the budget tabled Thursday. The Conservatives will be able to move amendments first, followed by the Bloc. These two parties have indicated that they will ultimately vote against the Liberal budget.
Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet said the Liberals want to be the “instrument” of the oil and gas industry. “The difference between this government and the Conservatives is that the Conservatives admit it,” he said Thursday.
Mr. Blanchet served a “fin de non-recevoir” to the Liberal budget, which is “not even close” to meeting the conditions set out by his party for support, in particular and above all on the expected increase in transfers to the provinces healthy, unconditionally. “The budget gives them conditions, no increase in transfers,” he lamented on Thursday.
Among the Greens, Amita Kuttner said on Thursday that the plan to achieve carbon neutrality was not enough to meet Canada’s emissions reduction targets.
Housing measures
Three of the four opposition parties welcome the Liberals’ focus on housing. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the commitment to double the number of homes built each year over the next decade was the “historic ambition” of this budget.
The $14 billion in new housing spending also includes a two-year ban on foreign home buyers, targeted funding for municipalities to build affordable housing, and money to double the tax credit for first-time home buyers.
Mr Singh argued that his party had forced the Liberals to reconsider what the government considers to be “affordable housing”. It is now calculated at 80% of the average market rate, rather than 80% of the median market income, a definition that “would have resulted in unaffordable housing,” according to Singh.
The acting conservative leader, Candice Bergen, estimated Thursday that the official opposition had not found what it was looking for in this housing plan. “This is a typical, classic NDP spending and tax budget,” she said at a press conference.
“New Democrat budget”
The Conservatives have spent the past few weeks in Commons Question Period hyping up Thursday’s release of “Canada’s first NDP budget,” asking the government if the Liberals would give in to the NDP’s “extreme demands.”
Mme Bergen said the Liberals had “strayed along the way”, leaning more to the left. “The liberals we knew only 10 years ago no longer exist. »
The Conservatives were happy to see over $8 billion in the budget allocated to defence. They had presented a motion in the House earlier this week for military spending to reach 2% of Canada’s GDP, a significant increase but demanded by NATO allies. The budget will raise military spending to 1.5% of GDP, according to finance officials.
This part of the budget does not suit the New Democrats, but this dispute is not enough to cause the collapse of the “support and confidence agreement”. Which means that when Parliament resumes on April 25, after a two-week recess, the government can breathe easy knowing it has the support in the House to survive any vote of confidence on the budget motion.
Government House Leader Mark Holland said debate on the amendments would continue on April 25, 26 and 27, after which the Budget Implementation Bill will be debated in the Commons .