MPs disappointed

Area MPs say they’re disappointed, but not surprised, by the federal government’s latest budget.

MP Bruce Hyer (NDP, Thunder Bay-Superior North) said when the last federal budget came down in March, it took him 21 hours to read. This time the budget, largely a copy of the last, took him one hour to get through.

"Harper’s budget has not gone where his words were (on election night)," Hyer said. "This is a budget for the 39 per cent of Canadians who voted for him. It does little or nothing for the 61 per cent of Canadians who wanted something quite different."

Instead of a strengthened public pension plan, as Hyer wanted, the budget has fighter jets and super prisons, he said. Instead of support for small business, $15 billion in corporate tax cuts remain, all of which disappoint the Superior North representative.

And Northerners only saw one announcement for FedNor he added.

"There was nothing in there about FedNor at all except for the cyclotron," said Hyer.
Hyer isn’t alone in his disappointment. MP John Rafferty (NDP, Thunder Bay-Rainy River) said he too was pretty disappointed with the budget, but admits that it was what he expected.

"It’s pretty clear that people in Northwestern Ontario are still struggling to recover from the effects of the recession and this budget fails to make life more affordable for people in Northwestern Ontario," Rafferty said.

While campaigning, Rafferty said he heard from constituents that the top priority was affordability.

To improve affordability, Rafferty said the government could have taken GST off electricity and home heating costs. But no measures like that were taken.

The NDP member also accused the government of not looking far enough ahead with its budget.

Meanwhile, as Thunder Bay discusses a proposed multiplex, Rafferty said there was nothing in the budget to help municipal infrastructure projects.

"There was no relief for communities, for cities to help build infrastructure," he said.
Both Rafferty and Hyer are also concerned about the government’s plan to slash $11 billion in government spending. Rafferty said he wants to know where federal finance minister Jim Flaherty expects to come up with the savings while departments such as Environment Canada have already been cut to the bone.

"I’m not sure how he’s going to do it. It’s pretty clear that I don’t think he’s clear yet what the government is going to do and how they’re going to do it," Rafferty said.

The MPs were encouraged by two program extensions in the budget however. Hyer said its good news for Norhtwestern Ontario that a one-year extension has been given to flow-through shares for mineral exploration while Rafferty said he’s glad to see the ecoENERGY Retrofit extended by a year as well.