Simcoe-Grey Liberal candidate Andrea Matrosovs said the budget repackages Liberal ideas, such as the permanent gas tax funding for municipalities and support for the automotive industry.
“This budget could have been much more effective in moving forward,” said Matrosovs.
Despite the lack of substance she doesn’t predict there is anything in the budget to trigger an election when the document goes to a confidence vote March 5.
“It’s always going to be a concern that we can make this parliament for Canadians work as long as possible if it’s heading in the right direction. If there was something in this budget that was intolerable, that went completely against to core of the Liberal values, then we would have been in a different predicament than we are right now,” said Matrosovs.
For cash-strapped municipalities, there is some hope.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty included $33 billion over seven years for municipal roads, bridges, water and sewage plants. A recent report from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities said it would take over $100 billion to address the basic infrastructure needs for Canadian municipalities.
New Tecumseth Mayor Mike MacEachern said it’s good to see focus on infrastructure needs, but more is needed. He also questioned when municipalities would see the money.
“There is a fundamental need to change the lottery style grant programs currently offered by the provincial and federal governments. Municipalities need sustained, long-term commitments on which they can develop long-term infrastructure plans,” he said. “Commitments are nice, but action is what we need.”
For the auto industry, a $250-million Automotive Innovation Fund was announced. The funding is to be doled out over a five-year period and is to focus on developing greener cars. Other highlights include $400 million to recruit 2,500 more police this year; $250 million to develop the carbon capture and storage this year; plans to create a crown corporation to manage Employment Insurance premiums and surpluses; and a new electronic, 10-year passport by 2011.
In the coming years, the surplus, which was $10 billion this year, is expected to decrease as well.
Matrosovs said she isn’t surprised to see the surplus declining in the future projections. She said decreasing the GST two percentage points has lessened the dollars in reserves that the government can rely on.
Attempts were made to contact Simcoe-Grey MP Helena Guergis. An assistant for Guergis told the Herald she would contact the paper Tuesday after the budget was delivered, however no phone call was received.
