The Conservative MP for Yorkton-Melville, Cathay Wagantall, weighed in on the federal budget, released yesterday (Thurs).
In her initial thoughts, she highlighted three main concerns with the budget – green commitments, housing, and spending in general.
Before the Federal Budget was released, interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen said they were looking for the document to be fiscally responsible with controlled spending.
The Budget includes more than $31-billion in new spending over 5 years, increasing the fiscal year’s deficit to $52.8-billion from earlier estimates of $44.1-billion.
The Liberals say it’s targeted at, among other things, speeding the flow of goods through Canada’s supply chains, boosting housing supply and jolting businesses out of an anemic period of investment.
Wagantall feels there’s room for improvement, pointing to the oil-and-gas sector as an example where if that was opened up more, it can “fuel” a lot of Canada’s needs.
“The government spending money does not necessarily stimulate an economy,” she said. “It costs Canadians when the government grows itself, so I’d like to see far more focus on enabling Canadians and opening our country up to where there’s confidence in investing in us again.”
Housing
The Tory MP was also mixed about the Budget addressing the housing crisis.
As part of $10-billion in funding, the Liberals announced a tax-free savings account for first time home buyers under 40, along with changes to the first-time home buyer tax credit.
While she welcomed that, concerns remained about the lack of applicants to the tax credit, along with first time buyers becoming what she called “house poor”.
“So much of their income will go to simply paying for that home that they are not able to manage the rest of their costs,” Wagantall added. “I remember in the day when we bought our first home, it could not be more than 40 percent of your total take home pay because you have to be able to live at the same time.”
Wagantall was also pleased with foreign buyers being banned from purchasing homes for two years, since it was part of the Tory platform, but had concerns about the timing amid the crisis.
Electric Vehicles
Among the green commitments made in the Liberal’s Budget: $1.7 billion over 5 years to help make zero-emission vehicles more affordable for people, and $500-million over 5 years to support the 15-hundred charging stations that the government promised to build throughout Canada.
Wagantall wonders what the true impact of changing to electric vehicles from gasoline is “because it’s one thing to say ‘oil-and-gas terrible, electric cars good, here’s why’”
“We are not getting a clear picture on that dynamic,” she said.
She added if we’re moving to other options, that’s fine as long as it’s done in a way that it is not destroying our current resource industry.