Last week the federal government released its fall economic statement and Provencher MP Ted Falk is disappointed.
“It’s very disappointing that they’re adding another $20 billion of new spending. We had really hoped they would hold the line. We know that when governments spend money into the economy and this is a new $20 billion that that’s just going to increase inflation. We’ve seen a lot of that in the last several years and when inflation increases the Bank of Canada responds with higher interest rates,” he said.
The government will spend $488.7 billion for the current fiscal year through to the end of March 2024. One percent is the rate of GDP growth for 2023 and is expected to decline next year, but the government doesn’t expect it to result in a recession.
Currently, the federal government has shown a deficit this year of $40 billion with next year’s deficit projected to be $38.4 billion, a $3.4-billion increase from the government’s previous projection.
Housing is a top of mind issues for most Canadians. The government has allocated $15 billion towards loan funding beginning in 2025-26 fiscal year to build more than 30,000 homes across Canda. On top of loan funding, there will be a $1 billion new affordable housing fund over three years, beginning in 2025-26, which the government projects will build 7,000 homes. There will also be mortgage relief by the government updating its mortgage charter to ensure financial institutions offer relief and reasonable payments for borrowers. Finally, co-operative housing corporations that provide long-term rental accommodations will be eligible for the removal of the GST on new rental housing.
“The interesting part about that if we see any results, it won’t be until 2025 and they haven’t given us the details of what that will look like. They’ve just announced funding that’s targeted for that so we’ll see what the nuts and bolts of that announcement are,” said Falk.
Falk said one of the issues that the federal government failed to address was putting a pause on the carbon tax. He said Conservatives were disappointed by this move and that Provencher constituents are concerned about affordability and the cost of living.
“It has absolutely nothing to do with environmental policies,” said Falk. “It’s a tax scheme on people that consume energy. And they’ve yet to show any measurable positive results from having a carbon tax. In fact, they haven’t met any of their emissions targets yet and the carbon tax hasn’t contributed to that at all.”
One of the issues that has come up in the media is the Conservatives failing to vote for a new free trade deal with Ukraine. Falk said there was no need to create a new trade deal and that the timing of it was inappropriate.
“Why would you be negotiating a free trade agreement when you already have one? And why would you do it during a time of war? This country’s at war and then you’re going to hold them over a barrel to sign this new free trade agreement so that you can impose a much harsher carbon tax on that country. That’s not even right.”
The Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement was originally put into effect in 2017 and largely dealt with trade in goods. The new agreement puts into place new chapters that include trade in services, financial services, investment, and telecommunications. It also updates chapters in labour, environment, digital trade, among other areas.
The new agreement, which was passed in the House, doesn’t outline any specific measures to decrease greenhouse gas emissions rather it just states that both sides will promote carbon pricing.
Ukraine already has a carbon tax in place as a condition to enter the European Union.
-With files from the Canadian Press
Ted Falk talks economy and Ukraine – The Carillon - Winnipeg Free Press
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