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Federal budget draws support from northwestern Ontario member of parliament

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No complaints on the federal budget from a local member of parliament.

Thunder Bay Superior North MP, Minister of Jobs and Families, and Minister responsible for FedNor, Patty Hajdu, is really excited about the budget.

“Listen, I think these are things that, in particular, smaller communities have been calling for a long time. There’s a huge focus on bringing down costs for Canadians,” explained Hajdu.

“We’re protecting vital social programs that Canadians rely on, like the National School Food Program, which has been made permanent, that so many people talk about in our region and are involved in, we’ve got the $10 a day childcare commitment that’s continuing, we’ve got the Canadian Dental Care Plan that so many, especially seniors, have talked to me about in terms of the way that they can actually get support and it really reduces their costs.”

Outside of programs, the minister was also happy with the extensive investment in infrastructure.

A total of $115 billion has been earmarked for infrastructure over the next five years.

“This is, I think, one of the most exciting things for me as an MP who represents small communities and rural communities who often have a really hard time replacing aging infrastructure, whether it’s water and sewer infrastructure, whether it’s road infrastructure, whether it’s community centres, roofs on libraries, linings of pools like I’ve basically heard it all in 10 years, and all of those things are deeply important, whether they’re visible or whether they’re not,” said Hajdu.

“The functioning of municipalities rests on the ability of its infrastructure to not only provide quality of life, safe drinking water is like an essential for every community across the country, but also to make sure that we can not only attract people to these communities, but keep them.”

Hajdu adds that support for entertainment and recreation infrastructure is also important.

“I mean, people need more than a job. We often talk about good jobs being the attractant. That might be the case, but if someone doesn’t have a place to go and play pickleball or go for a swim or bring their kids for skating lessons,” added Hajdu.

“Those kinds of things can really undermine attracting people to the region, and we see that people leave because there aren’t the kinds of quality of life infrastructure that they’re looking for.”

More ongoing infrastructure projects in the region and country will also create more jobs for Canadians.

“For everybody that’s in the skilled trades, everybody who’s thinking about going into the skilled trades, we need you because to build things, we need the builders,” said Hajdu.

“We need the welders, the electricians, the heavy equipment operators, the carpenters. You know, the stonemason workers like these are the folks that are going to be building up our communities and building Canada strong.”

Meanwhile, the budget highlighted that immigration numbers are set to be greatly reduced.

This comes amid support for the Rural and Northern Immigration Program in northwestern Ontario.

According to the federal government, in 2018, 3.3 per cent of Canada’s population were temporary residents.

By 2024, that number had more than doubled to 7.5 per cent, an unprecedented rate of growth that put pressure on housing supply, the healthcare system, and schools.

Budget 2025 announces that the 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan will stabilize permanent resident admission targets at 380,000 per year for three years, down from 395,000 in 2025, while increasing the share of economic migrants from 59 per cent to 64 per cent.

The new plan will also reduce the target for new temporary resident admissions from 673,650 in 2025 to 385,000 in 2026, and 370,000 in 2027 and 2028.

“I think ultimately what the government wants to do is to really bring immigration down to manageable levels,” said Hajdu. “I would say that this immigration plan is a responsible plan to help with communities that, conversely, have had a hard time absorbing newcomers at some places in southern Ontario, in particular around temporary residents.”

“We want to make sure that obviously regions like Northern Ontario have what they need to keep growing, and so in the budget, it specifically mentions the needs of rural communities, and so we’ll be working with rural communities like the ones in my riding to make sure that there are pathways to permanent residency that we can, bring in, you know, a percentage of temporary workers as needed in a rigorous way that ensures Canadians come first for any work that’s available in the community.”

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CDA Applauds Dental Care In Federal Budget

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A full dental care program will be available to Canadians by 2025. The new program was unveiled in the federal budget.

President of the Canadian Dental Association Dr. Richard Holden applauds the move, “A little surprised initially, but very excited. I mean, at the Canadian Dental Association, we support any effort by the government to improve oral health of Canadians and increase access to dental care and as a as a dentist.”

He says three quarters of the population have access already through other plans, but there are still many who are without, “Seniors, children, people living with disabilities, Indigenous and racialized families and low income Canadians they all need better access, so certainly there is more room to improve.”

Dr. Holden says dental decay is the most common childhood disease in Canada, and better access to care will help that, “People might end up with dental infections and can end up in the emergency room and they would be much better treated in a dental office. Better access to care will help that.”

He adds the Association is hoping to collaborate with the federal government, “We do know that the federal government, provincial and territorial governments already have plans in place, but there’s a myriad of programs that are in place. We do know that they’re underfunded, and our hope is to collaborate.”

The government expects it will spend $5.3 billion on dental health care over the next five years.

Children under the age of 18, and seniors and persons with disabilities will be eligible for the plan in 2023.

It is expected to be fully implemented by 2025, at a cost of $1.7 billion for the year.

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Federal Budget To Be Tabled April 7

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The Liberal government will table it’s first budget since the last federal election on Thursday, April 7th.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland made the announcement Tuesday.

The last economic update in December last year pegged the forecasted deficit in 2021-22 at $144.5 billion with a drop to $58.4 billion in the 2022-2023 fiscal year.

The budget is expected to pass in the House of Commons with the NDP supporting the minority government, after the two parties signed a confidence and supply agreement on March 22nd.

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Fiscal Snapshot Projects $343 Billion Deficit

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The fiscal snapshot provided by Finance Minister Bill Morneau included some alarming figures related to debt including a projection of this year’s deficit that is nearly 200 times larger than in 2019 ($19.8 billion.)

This year’s deficit will take the net federal debt to the $1.2 trillion mark moving the federal debt to GDP ratio to 49 per cent compared to 31 per cent in 2019.

Morneau said in his presentation that the spending was and continues to be necessary as many Canadians are still suffering immense hardships as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Some will criticize us for our spending,” Morneau said but he says most of it was required in a timely fashion which resulted in some gaps.

Conservative leader Andrew Scheer brought up some of those gaps specifically mentioning complaints from business owners who have found the rent subsidy program inadequate and a lack of support for workers in the energy sector.

“There is no plan to stimulate job growth, to attract investment, or to rebuild our economy,” Scheer said. He added that all other G7 countries have released detailed plans on their recovery strategies and he was disappointed the fiscal snapshot didn’t include more information on what the government’s future plans include.

“We know there are some things that need to change so we can get people back to work,” Morneau said

The report shows the federal government made $212 billion in direct support to Canadian businesses and citizens. Without that help the situation would have been dire according to Morneau, “Millions of jobs would have been lost, putting the burden of debt onto families and jeopardizing Canada’s resilience.”

The 168-page fiscal snapshot also provided an economic forecast for the near future.

Economists commissioned to help with the snapshot project that the size of the economy is projected to 6.8 per cent this year before growing by around 5.5 per cent next year.

Unemployment figures peaked at 14 per cent at the height of the pandemic and the snapshot projects that figure will be around 7 per cent by the end of 2021.

The report did not offer projections beyond 2021.