Conservative budget out of touch with the priorities of Canadian families says Cloutier
Liberal candidate for Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing
ALGOMA-MANITOULIN-KAPUSKASING – This week’s Conservative budget hides billions in wasteful spending and offers next to nothing for Canadian families, Liberal candidate François Cloutier said today.
“Liberals cannot support a budget that is so out-of-touch with the priorities of Canadian families, while the government pours tens of billions into prisons, stealth fighters and corporate tax cuts,” Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said. “And we will not support a government that deceives Canadians, breaks the rules, and attacks our democracy.
“This budget spends 1,000 times more on fighter jets than post-secondary students, 1,000 times more on prisons than on crime prevention, more for a single day of the G20 than in a year for seniors, three times more on partisan advertising than on family care, and nothing for child care,” said Mr. Ignatieff.
Mr. Cloutier supports the Liberal position. “Clearly this budget does not reflect the priority of the people of Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing. The Liberal Party believes that all Canadians should have equal opportunity to jobs, education and health care, no matter where they live.”
A Liberal government will return corporate tax rates to 2010 levels and tackle the deficit while strengthening Canadian families with investments in:
- Rural Canada Matters, a plan to bolster Canada’s rural economy by attracting more doctors and nurses to rural communities, achieving 100% high-speed internet coverage, rewarding volunteer firefighters, restoring rural mail service cut by the Conservatives and implementing Canada’s first National Food Policy.
- A real family care plan, with a six-month Family Care EI benefit, and a new refundable tax benefit for working families worth up to $1,350 per year, instead of no EI benefit and a paltry tax credit that does nothing for low-income caregivers and is only worth $300.
- Stronger public pensions, by strengthening the base Canada Pension Plan (CPP) with gradual increases to benefits over time and creating an option for topping-up savings with a new supplemental CPP, not just a modest GIS benefit that works out to only $1.20 per eligible senior a day.
- Support for learning and training, so that all Canadians who get the grades get the skills they need to get high-quality jobs, instead of a paltry $34 per student when two-thirds of parents think they won’t be able to save enough to help their kids go to college or university.
- Quality, affordable early learning and child care, to give our kids the head start they need by offering working families a real choice when they need to find child care spaces for their kids, not just $75 per year for art classes.
