WELLINGTON COUNTY – The recently-announced federal budget is, unsurprisingly, not striking the right tone with local Conservative MPs.
“I think it’s a terrible budget,” said Michael Chong, longtime Wellington-Halton Hills MP, in a phone interview.
The budget, tabled earlier this week, features $43 billion in net new spending over six years and is being highlighted by the feds as focused on affordability, health and dental care and the green economy.
“I think the budget is a fiscal fantasy, it’s doubling down on the failed approach of previous budgets and it’s going to further magnify the problems that families and workers have been facing,” Chong said, adding this spending is fuelling inflation.
A big talking point in the budget is the grocery rebate, intended to provide inflation relief for low to modest income people. Eligible couples with two children get up to $467, single people can get $234 and seniors $225.
Chong pointed to this as a prime example of why the budget doesn’t work.
“On the one hand, the government’s reckless spending is fuelling inflation leading to increase in the cost of groceries up thousands of dollars a year for a typical family of four and on the other hand, government says that it’s trying to help families by providing a one time grocery rebate check that’s far less than the increase in inflation in food,” Chong said.
John Nater, Perth-Wellington MP, was on the same page as Chong. In an email he said this budget does not meet the needs and priorities of the riding.
“Just weeks ago, the Minister of Finance promised that the 2023 Budget would be one of fiscal restraint,” Nater said. “But on Tuesday, we saw a deficit of $43 billion, which is $10 billion higher than projected.”
He pointed to the increasing carbon tax and alcohol tax as adding “fuel to the inflationary fire” while people are concerned about the rising cost of living. For rural constituents, he says this budget fails to support getting those without high-speed internet access connected and does not address concerns of farmers and farm families.
“Whether it is the fertilizer tariffs that penalize Canadian farmers against our G7 counterparts or the continued need to address labour shortages and processing capacity, agriculture in Canada barely warranted a mention in the budget,” Nater said.
In Chong’s view, the budget at this time should be showing restraint to help the Bank of Canada contain inflation and to halt tax increases coming into effect to help families.
“I think they are a very ideologically driven government that believes in their own rhetoric and they’re failing to look at the evidence and the data that prove their approach to managing the economy is all wrong,” Chong said.
