Liberals ‘pre-election’ budget draws mixed reviews
By Tim Kalinowski on April 21, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com The federal Liberal budget released on Monday is drawing widespread criticism for dramatically increasing spending in a time of record deficits in some quarters and praise in other quarters for advancing a progressive agenda on the environment and a national childcare program.Whether you feel one way or the other, says Lethbridge College political scientist Faron Ellis, one thing is certain: the Liberals really want a federal election this fall.
“All budgets have political campaign elements to them,” says Ellis. “And those that exist in a minority parliament in what is assumed to be a campaign year even moreso. But this one really takes the cake.”
“They are itching for an election,” he adds. “They just recognize it could backfire in a big way if they engineered their own defeat or just wandered over to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, given we don’t even have a Governor General right now, and just pulled the trigger themselves. They are willing to wait, but in doing so they are upping the ante essentially, saying ‘you have to campaign against an even more aggressively progressive agenda.”
Ellis says it is astonishing, in his experience, how much borrowed money the Liberal government has thrown on the table above and beyond the massive spending required to meet the ongoing economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They essentially went through the list of every conceivable sub-section of the voting Canadian population, and said let’s give them some money,” says Ellis. “Again, borrowed money that future generations have to worry about paying for.
“What the Liberals are banking on outside of all that crisis spending is Canadians won’t notice another $100-$150 billion spent on programs that are going to have ongoing costs.”
Lethbridge Member of Parliament Rachael Harder echoes these thoughts in her criticism of the budget.
“If we have ever seen a pre-election budget this is certainly it,” Harder says. “This is something a government puts forward when they are planning for an election. This is something they use to wave in front of Canadians in order to try to entice them.
“My first impressions when I looked at it were how the Liberals are shopping at Gucci when they should have been shopping at Walmart, and they took your credit card with them,” she adds.
For example, while a $10 a day national childcare program perhaps sounds laudable, says Harder, it is a promise the Liberals have made and broken before over several previous federal elections.
“I wait to see whether or not they will follow through on this commitment,” she says. “Support for families is good, but these are things we would like to see when we have a surplus, and when Canada’s economy is functioning on all cylinders. Right now we are in the middle of a pandemic, we are in the middle of a recession, and we are trying to fight our way back to normal. So it is incredibly negligent of this government to spend like a drunken sailor when actually they should be looking after the long term prosperity of Canada.”
Harder says for all the money being spent by the Liberals there is no real stimulus money contained within the budget, in her view.
“There is a ton of spending outlined here in terms of wage subsidies and handouts, but there is not much in terms of stimulus spending,” she states. “True stimulus spending should focus on turning $1 into $3. If the government is looking to do stimulus spending, it should have invested in sectors or industries that have the ability to generate revenue and create jobs for years to come. So, for example, oil and gas in Western Canada. Trudeau had an opportunity here to show support for this industry, and thereby show support for Western Canada. He chose not to.”
On the other hand, the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association gave the Liberal budget a nod of approval in a statement released on Monday afternoon.
“Budget 2021 brings good news to Alberta municipalities and the hope that the federal and provincial governments might work together to ease the burden on Alberta’s residents, especially those most in need,” the statement reads in part.
The AUMA goes on to laud the federal government for committing $2.5 billion toward affordable housing and its one time doubling of the annual Gas Tax Refund for 2021 to help offset COVID costs within municipalities.
“AUMA is pleased to hear the Government of Canada will be making meaningful investments in the economic wellbeing of our communities,” states AUMA President Barry Morishita. “We have heard the commitment from the government that they’re focused on strategic, coordinated investments to stimulate our economy. These are sensible and targeted funding measures intended to help the members of our communities who have been hardest hit by the economic reality of the pandemic. I look forward to hearing how the province intends to take advantage of these federal funds so Albertans can see the best possible future for their friends, neighbours, and themselves.”
Lynn Jacobson, president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture, also gives the federal budget a tentative thumbs up for investing $1 billion in Universal Broadband, providing $200 million for on-farm climate change action, and providing substantial funds to help farmers upgrade their grain drying efficiency technology. There are also tens of millions of dollars set aside to help offset the cost of housing and isolation protocols for Temporary Foreign Workers, and financial commitments to help reduce trade barriers between provinces.
“At this point in time, I think we are more thumbs up on it,” Jacobson says. “There is always going to be areas where we disagree with the government, but it seems they are going to be open to talking about those anyway.
“They are not reflecting all of our concerns,” he adds, “but they have addressed some of them.” Follow @TimKalHerald on Twitter 4
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