(Ottawa) The 2024 federal budget is designed to “respond to the moment” facing young Canadians and the economy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a room of Canadian business leaders in Ottawa Monday after noon.
This budget also comes as the Liberals are still looking for the magic formula to regain the good graces of voters.
The budget, which Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will present Tuesday afternoon, contains billions in already promised investments in housing, artificial intelligence and defense, Mr. Trudeau touted.
However, he gave no idea of how these will be financed.
Much of the budget aims to provide hope to young Canadians who have come of age during tumultuous economic times, Mr. Trudeau said, and who “now feel like the stability of the middle class is out of reach.”
“We have to seize this moment because we can’t let this happen,” he told the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
“Our country can only succeed if young people succeed – and more than that, our country can only succeed if young people can imagine themselves succeeding. And they just don’t feel like it right now. »
The Liberals have spent the last two weeks announcing various measures that will be included in the budget.
A new Leger poll suggests Canadians like what they saw.
The poll, which took the pulse of 1,525 adults online between Friday and Sunday, indicates that 73% of respondents support the $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund. In addition, 71% support the new 1 billion national school feeding program and 67% approve the 15 billion Apartment Construction Loan Program.
Also, 60% support $8 billion in new defense spending over the next five years, according to the survey.
Online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not sample the population randomly, although the results have been weighted for statistical accuracy.
Despite support for these items, Canadians remain in a bad mood about the economy, with only a third saying they believe the Liberals are making progress toward improving housing affordability or the growth of the economy.
A similar proportion thinks the Liberals pursue policies focused on helping middle-class families.
Mr. Trudeau and Mr.me Freeland sidestepped questions about how the government will fund the promised policies, confirming only that there will be no tax increases on the middle class.
However, they left the possibility of increasing taxes on businesses or wealthier Canadians.
The poll suggests that while increases in the GST or personal income tax in general would be extremely unpopular, many people believe wealthier people should pay more taxes.
Nearly 80% of those surveyed support a new tax on personal wealth above 10 million, 75% support a new tax on the profits of “very large” companies and 62% support an increase in corporate or income tax. businesses.
Chrystia Freeland spent part of Monday indulging in the long-standing tradition of buying new shoes for the budget unveiling, this time donning a pair of black pumps with a modest heel from Canadian shoemaker Maguire .