Overall:
• Reduce debt by $10.2 billion in 2007–08, and a total of $13.8 billion by 2009–10. By 2012–13, total debt reduction by the government since coming into office will be more than $50 billion.
• Keep spending focused and disciplined, with spending in 2007–08 and 2008–09 below the track set out in Budget 2007 in relation to the overall size of the economy.
• Improve the management and governance of the Employment Insurance (EI) program through the creation of the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board, an independent Crown corporation with a legislated structure which provides that EI premiums are dedicated exclusively to the EI program.
Personal:
• New Tax-Free Savings Account – a flexible savings vehicle that allows Canadians to contribute up to $5,000 a year. Investment income, including capital gains, earned within the account will not be taxed and withdrawals will be tax-free.
Students:
• Support for Canadian students with a $350-million investment in 2009–10, rising to $430 million by 2012–13, in a new, consolidated Canada Student Grant Program that will reach 245,000 college and undergraduate students per year when it takes effect in the fall of 2009.
• A commitment of $123 million over four years starting in 2009–10 to streamline and modernize the Canada Student Loans Program.
• Enhance the flexibility of Registered Education Savings Plans by increasing the time they may remain open to 35 years from 25 years, and by extending the maximum contribution period by 10 years.
• Provide $25 million over two years to establish a new Canada Graduate Scholarship award for top Canadian and international doctoral students.
Communities and industries:
• Provide an additional $90 million to extend to 2012 the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers to help older workers stay in the workforce.
• Provide $10 million over two years to Natural Resources Canada to promote Canada’s forestry sector in international markets as a model of environmental innovation and sustainability.
• Allocate $72 million over two years to farm programs and to improve access to $3.3 billion in potential cash advances to Canadian farmers.
• Provide $22 million over two years for innovation and to provide greater regulatory certainty in the aquaculture industry.
Infrastructure:
• Make the Gas Tax Fund, which will be worth $2 billion in 2009–10, a permanent measure, allowing municipalities to better plan and finance their long-term infrastructure needs.
• Set aside up to $500 million in support of capital investments to improve public transit.
• Provide $10 million over two years to enable repairs and environmental cleanup to permit the transfer of more small craft harbours across Canada from the federal government to interested parties.
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