Budget fails to make life more affordable for Canadian families: Atamanenko
By Contributor
The new federal budget falls short of meeting expectations of Canadian families, says BC Southern Interior MP Alex Atamanenko.
There are some positive aspects in the majority Conservative government’s budget, he conceded, such as gas tax dollars for long-term infrastructure funding for municipalities.
“However, overall the budget fails to make life more affordable for Canadian families still struggling to recover from the effects of the recession,” said Atamanenko.
According to Atamanenko, there is nothing in the budget to substantially lift seniors out of poverty or to fix frontline health care. On Jan. 1, 2012 the Conservatives will hand over a further $2 billion to the corporate sector in the form of tax breaks, he said.
“Instead of giving money to those who need it the least, would it not make more sense to double the CPP for seniors, hire more doctors and nurses, and implement a national affordable housing strategy?”
With a planned cut of $3.2 million to Western Diversification in 2011/12, Atamanenko is worried this will affect all the work that Community Futures programs do to assist small businesses.
“There should be more money for regional economic development, not less. The total cuts to Western Diversification will be $17.8 million by 2014. This is clearly not acceptable,” he said.
Atamanenko said he also has concerns about the planned one-year strategic and operating review. He feared that public sector employees will be targeted much the same as the workers at Canada Post.
“The Finance Minister is trying to find ways to balance the budget. If he is giving tax breaks to corporations and is committed to maintaining transfers to the provinces, the target will, without a doubt, be our public service,” he said.
Just as with the postal workers, Atamanenko said the federal government needs to ensure that good union jobs are not contracted out to the private sector with a loss of pay and benefits.
“Budgets should not be balanced on the backs of workers.”
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