Budget 2010 passes 142 to 132 in Tuesday night vote as 31 Liberals absent

– The 2010 federal Budget passed its final vote in the House of Commons when Liberal MPs abstained from voting. 141 Conservative MPs and 1 Independent were enough to pass the Budget over the votes of New Democrats, Bloc MPs, and the 46 Liberals present to vote against it. 

"We just can’t afford to allocate so much money to deep corporate tax cuts right now"

OTTAWA

“This is a day of breathtaking ironies.” said Bruce Hyer, Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay–Superior North. “It’s ironic that right after addressing a HST protest with thousands of people from across Canada outside the House of Commons today, I came inside to hear Liberal after Liberal stand up and expound on the problems with the latest Harper Budget. But instead of opposing, or even proposing an amendment to fix some of the serious problems they pointed out, almost half of Ignatieff’s Official Opposition chose to skip the vote.”

Passage of the $280.5 billion federal Budget means that the path is cleared for the final implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax in Ontario and British Columbia, which will now come into force on Canada Day, 2010. The government lists this year’s budgetary deficit at $53.8 billion, the first of five years of projected deficits.

“On top of hiking taxes with the HST, this Budget raises payroll taxes starting at the end of the year. Workers, small businesses and other employers will see $19 billion in Employment Insurance premium increases going forward to re-balance the EI account, a mere two years after a $57 billion surplus in the account was emptied by the government.” said Hyer, Small Business Advocate for the New Democrats.  

A recent study by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses indicated that rising EI premiums could cost the Canadian economy a total of 200,000 jobs in coming years.  

He added “And while taxes are being raised on consumers and employers, the government is driving the country deeper into debt so it can give tax cuts to the most profitable corporations – $21 billion worth since 2008, and $60 billion worth by the time they are fully implemented in 2014. During that same period, Mr. Harper will add $162.4 billion to the public debt. We just can’t afford to allocate so much money to deep corporate tax cuts right now. Targeted supports for EI, small business, or infrastructure would not only be more affordable, but would yield a much greater economic stimulus for taxpayer dollars according to the government’s own Budget figures.”  

For information contact Office of Bruce Hyer: Andy Blair   613-996-4792  613-996-4792