Tuesday, March 19, 2019 ~ NATIONAL.
~ West Shore Voice News
Finance Minister Bill Morneau delivered the federal government’s 2019 budget today March 19, 2019 in a series of phases.
To work around the expected interruption from the Conservatives, Morneau officially tabled the budget about eight minutes ahead of the 5pm Eastern (2 pm Pacific) scheduled time for delivering it in the House of Commons. At 2 pm he sat with CBC TV for an interview, then did the rounds with other media before making his way to the House of Commons. In this way he provided the awaited budget information to the public at the expected time.
The Liberal government has seen robust income tax revenues from an almost fully-employed population, though not all work is secure as especially the younger generation are working ‘the gig economy’ with contract work and low-wage temporary and part-time jobs without benefits.
Rather than reduce the deficit, the government will spend it on programs. The deficit will be $14.9 billion this year and $19.8 billion in 2020. From a political perspective, all these programs come along with a re-elected Liberal government in October 2019 but would likely be adjusted or in jeopardy if the Conservative were to win a majority government this fall.
LINKS: The full budget description or direct to the PDF: https://www.budget.gc.ca/2019/docs/plan/budget-2019-en.pdf
As expected, the four key ‘please the public’ planks of this budget were in the realms of housing (including a shared equity program to help first-time buyers and the opportunity to apply more personal funds from RRSPs), pharmaceuticals (moving toward implementing national pharmacare including an Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare and a new Canadian Drug Agency, producing a national list of covered drugs; and efforts to make high-cost drugs for rare diseases more accessible), seniors, and skills and training.
The general feeling in the Canadian living situation is that employment is or can become precarious in rapidly changing technological times, that child care is expensive or unavailable, and that achieving work/life balance is still difficult. As part of the Liberal platform since 2015 to help boost the middle class, pretty much every step of a Canadian’s lifecycle is now covered in this budget. In addition to the Child Benefit supports that will be further enhanced, there is education and skill training support and housing support — much of that being seen to help the generally disenfranchised Millennials, and support for seniors who are living longer and still participating in the workforce.
The budget states that this year, a typical middle class family of four will receive, on average, $2.000 more in support than they did in 2015 due to the middle class tax cut and the Canada Child Benefit.
This year, a typical middle class family of four will receive, on average, $2000 more in support than they did in 2015 due to the middle class tax cut and the Canada Child Benefit.
“Not only are there more jobs, but wages have also increased, rising in 2018 at one of the fastest paces of growth seen in the past eight years.”
“With lower taxes, more money to save or spend each month, and more good jobs, there are many reasons for middle class Canadians to feel more confident about what the future holds for themselves and their families.”
The government does admit in their budget, however, that in 2019 “there persists a sense among some Canadians that the promise of progress — the idea that with hard work, everyone can build a better life — may no longer hold true.” And that more needs to be done.
Delivery of federal funds into infrastructure projects across the country have not been copious in the past four years, despite federal efforts. The glitch in delivering earmarked federal funding seemed to be in the requirement for municipalities to have funding partnerships with provincial governments. So today, mayors of municipalities across the country are apparently quite pleased with a one-time doubling up of Federal Gas Tax funds being made available for eligible infrastructure projects, especially as the funds will go directly to municipalities without having to be distributed through a provincial government. [Separate article on this aspect, to come]
DETAILS:
MORE ON HOUSING: Housing affordability is a challenge for many Canadians, especially in large urban centres like Toronto and Vancouver/Victoria. While the first-time home buyer incentive is creative and will no doubt help some people get into the market, it could also get some people back into debt over their heads in an economy that still sees very high debt levels ($1.78 owed for every $1.00 earned). NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh critiqued the Liberals today says that initiatives in the budget only focussed on market housing and housing as an investment with no eye to providing a range of housing types for all income levels. DETAILS: introducing the first-time home buyer incentive (5% shared equity from the government for a mortgage on a used home, or 10% for the purchase of new construction); expanding the rental construction financing initiative and encouraging innovation with the housing supply challenge; and launching an expert panel on housing supply and affordability. Action will be taken on enhancing tax compliance in the real estate sector and monitoring purchases of Canadian real estate.
SENIORS: Ensuring all who are eligible for Canada Pension Plan benefits are receiving them, protecting pensions, improving economic security of low-income seniors, empowering seniors in their communities with an additional $100 million for New Horizons for Seniors over five years, and further investments such as maintaining a Minister of Seniors, funds to the provinces to improve access to home, community and palliative care services, $77 million more for the Enabling Accessibility Fund, and making it easier to apply for Employment Insurance caregiving benefits. Among other specific actions, the exemption level will be raised for the clawback on CPP for seniors who are working up to age 70.
SKILLS & TRAINING: To help Canadians cope with a rapidly changing economy and work force due to technological changes and the implementation of artificial intelligence, a broader perspective is being taken on retraining throughout a person’s career. DETAILS: Improving gender and diversity outcomes in skills programs; a new Canada Training Credit (up to $250/year to a $4,000 cap over a person’s career); EI Training Support Benefit (including four weeks off for training without loss of wages); Making Canada Student Loans more affordable and accessible (floating-rate loans will carry interest at the prime rate and fixed student loan rate will be prime-plus-2%); enhancing supports for apprenticeship (up to 84,000 internship student jobs). There will be paid parental leave for student researchers, support for graduate students through research scholarships, support for indigenous post-secondary education, expanding the Canada Service Corps, giving young Canadians digital skills, modernizing the youth employment strategy, a new international education strategy, expansion of the student work placement program, more work-integrated learning opportunities, and supporting the work of the business/higher education roundtable.