As expected, the federal Conservative government's budget for 2014-15, released Thursday, provided little in the way of new spending to improve employment in Canada. There is a few million here, a few million there for job training programs, but overall it is an austerity budget with very little direct job creation.
The 2013 Federal Budget was tabled in Parliament today by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. The Harper government likes to call it an "Economic Action Plan," but many groups across Canada today are hitting out, saying this is another federal budget that does little or nothing to lessen the economic impact of austerity.
“This is a welcome critique of conventional economic wisdom. If you thought tax cuts would solve all of your problems, read The Great Revenue Robbery and think again.”
-Thomas Walkom, political columnist, Toronto Star
Join authors and organizers for the launch of
The Great Revenue Robbery: How to Stop the Tax Cut Scam and Save Canada
Edited by Richard Swift for the Canadians for Tax Fairness
Municipalities across Canada need stable, long term funding to help replace crumbling roads, aging waste water treatment plants and to build vibrant community centres, libraries and green spaces.
The price tag attached to addressing our infrastructure needs is 126 billion dollars. Federal funding has been stagnant recently, and this year’s federal budget needs to commit significant increased funding for a long term, predictable and flexible public infrastructure.
The catch?
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is inexplicably moving towards tying all federal infrastructure funding to a condition that they be private-public partnerships.
Today the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) presented its annual Alternative Budget. For more information, visit the CCPA website.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) warns more austerity measures from the federal government could further stall an already stagnant economy.
With the release of its annual Alternative Federal Budget (AFB), the CCPA shows how growth-killing austerity can be replaced by a plan that strengthens the economy, leads to a better quality of life for all Canadians, and eliminates the deficit by 2016.
