2017 Canadian Federal Budget gets mixed reactions

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said Life-Long Pensions for veterans was not included In Government's Second Budget and that Canadians had every right to be concerned about it because they are in desperate need of new ships for our Navy, new fighter aircraft for our Air Force, which this budget failed to provide.

Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose accused Morneau of finding the way to pay for the spending by taxing Uber and beer.

In one of the posts in her Facebook accounts Ambrose said, “The reality is Justin Trudeau is focused on everything but regular Canadians’ top priorities. Speaking at the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce breakfast to talk about how yesterday’s budget is nickel and diming Canadians. Justin Trudeau chose to put Canada deeper into debt and make Canadian taxpayers pay for it.”

Aaron Wudrick, Canadian Taxpayers Federation applauded the budget because he felt that it did not contain larger-than-expected deficits, like Budget 2016 did.

He added that the negative side is that it provides few specifics for its so-called innovation agenda.

Canadian Taxpayers Federation tweeted, “Generation Screwed‏ @GenScrewedCdn Yep, seems about right. #cdnpoli #Budget2017”

Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson, chair of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) was full of praise for transit plan in the current budget that recognized cities’ role as nation-builders.

Iveson tweeted, “A fair share for cities: Mayor @doniveson blogs about #Budget2017 and what it means for #YEG http://doniveson.ca/2017/03/22/fair-share-edmonton/ … #yegcc #ableg #CDNmuni”

FCM tweeted,” @doniveson at @CBCTheHouse discussing the game changing outcome of #Budget2017 for #CDNmuni. Hear the segment Saturday morning at 9 a.m.”

Joe Gunn, Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) was really concerned that no initiatives had been taken on reducing poverty in Canada, climate change, and the concerns of refugees and newcomers.

Tweet by CPJ, “#Budget2017 takes positive steps for low-income Cdns, but the govt must also address their most urgent needs.”

CPJ tweeted, “Glad to see $27.7M for Yazidi refugees. Sadly, no $ for resettlement from other parts of the world. #Budget2017.”

“In #Budget2017 , Cdn govt follows through on climate plan based on consultations, but little $ will flow in 2017,” CPJ added.

Bilan Arte, Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) was full of praise for the federal government’s thoughts on uplifting the student community.

CFS tweeted, "IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Students respond to #Budget2017: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2017/22/c5672.html … | #cfsfcee #bdgt17 #cdnpoli #hw #cdnpse #canlab #pnpcbc"

Denise Amyot, College and Institutes Canada (CICan) was full of praise for the budget’s concern for providing new skills and making the students community adaptable to new technological advances.

CICan tweeted, "We're excited to see the next generation in action @Americana2017 closing cocktail at 4. CICan #CleanTech Internship, it pays to be green.”

Chris Ramsaroop of Justicia for Migrant Workers, a grassroots advocacy group, said the budget failed to address the vulnerabilities faced by foreign workers in Canada.

Cariboo-Prince George Conservative MP Todd Doherty said the budget showed liberals failed to understand Canada’s middle class adding that they should have supported for creating more obs for young Canadians pointing out that in 2016, Canadians aged 15-24 had lost 42,000 full-time jobs.

Doherty tweeted, "Freedom is the right to be wrong..not do wrong" my colleague @tomkmiec continuing the fight to uphold democracy! #cpc #proc #cdnpoli.”

Garth Frizzell, Prince George City Councillor and Federation of Canadian Municipalities Board member on the other hand was pleased with the promise of a national housing strategy.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said the budget did not promise new child care spaces, only the possibility of 40,000 but there is actually a need for hundreds of thousands of spaces nationwide.

The budget extended parental leave to 18 months by spreading 12 months worth of payments over that time. The budget did not include dedicated leave for the second parent nor does it increase parental leave benefits for low-income earners to be able to afford to enable them to take leave.

Although the budget promised big investment in affordable housing, there were no measures in place to cool red-hot markets

David Macdonald, senior economist for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives said that the spending outlined in this budget was only about half of that.

Money from the National Housing Fund is planned to ramp up slowly, from $141 million in 2018-19 to a high of $707 million in 2024-25, well after the next election.

Macdonald tweeted, “For timely, insightful analysis of #Budget2017 from @ccpa & our partners, click here: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/2017-federal-budget-analysis … … #bdgt17 #cdnpoli”

“There’s a huge backlog in affordable housing. The wait lists in any big city are going to be massive,” he told, ReportCa.Net.

“This will have an impact, $100 or $200 million, but a big push would require much more than that,” Macdonald was quoted as saying by ReportCa.Net.

To Ian Lee, associate professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, the investment was good.

“I think the Liberals are brilliant at doing this, actually, at signalling to their various supporters that they hear them, that they care about them,” he said.

One thing missing from the budget were any policies aimed at cooling the hot housing markets in parts of Canada, specially in Vancouver and Toronto.

“My sense is they feel they’ve done enough to address the problem,” Lee was quoted by ReportCa.Net reports said.

Lee felt that the government had made it more difficult to get an insured house.

It made sure that mortgage default insurance can no longer be placed on rental properties.

It had also made down-payment and income capacity rules more stringent, he said.

One of the posts of Canadian Construction Association says, “The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the Saskatchewan HeavyConstruction Association and United Steelworkers Local 5890 are asking the federal government to not implement a countrywide carbon tax: http://glbn.ca/NwBAp7.”

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)