Federal Budget
I had an actual request to blog about the Federal Budget. This was from a person who only likes my short entries, which is good because there is little to comment on.
There is the typical sin tax increases, not much anymore. I think the government is finally understanding that it may be reaching the saturation point of how much people will actually pay for cigarettes and liquor. Regardless, it is becoming more and more a tax on the poor. I wish the government could do something creative, as it is usually the children of the people who are consuming cigarettes and liquor that are suffering. Maybe issuing a rewards card, or something like that, for people purchasing the items. A rewards card for groceries, obviously. For every $10 spent, you get $1 on your rewards card to purchase groceries, and by groceries, those items not subject to GST/HST/PST. Then, I would be more comfortable with the increases. At least the children would have food in their bellies.
Maternity leave has been extended to 18 months. That would be incredibly huge, if it meant a penny more money to family members making the choice to stay home with babies. So, it is the exact same amount of money spread over 18 months than 12 months. I suppose it is something, but, for the Trudeau government who has bragged about being the most Feminist government in Canadian history, it really isn't ground-breaking.
Public Transit Pass Credits being eliminated. Again, from the Government who was promoting themselves as the greenest governement ever, this doesn't do anything for their image. It is ironic that the Conservatives introduced to try to promote people not driving as much and not contributing to pollution in our air, and the Trudeau governement eliminates this. One would have thought it would be the other way around. But, that's politics.
Two other things of interest. During the election campaign, Trudeau said he would only allow a $10B deficit. This year, with the budget, our deficit should be $28B. This signals, that the Trudeau government really doesn't have any interest in balancing the budget as they promised. Quele Drole.
The second interesting thing is that how we really don't care. So far, media coverage is largely positive for the budget as there is not much to talk about. I applaud the Toronto Star for producing "10 things you must know about the budget". I couldn't find that many. Ok, let's face it. The budget really is ho hum, however, it is also really opposite of what we expected from the Trudeau government.
This means something. The first thing it could mean is that the Trudeau government doesn't really care about us. All the things that they encouraged us to care about during the election are things that they no longer appear to care about.
The second thing that it could mean that budgets aren't really written by Governments, they are written by bureaucrats. Governments come and go, bureaucrats remain. They do the work, the governments are merely figureheads.
There is the typical sin tax increases, not much anymore. I think the government is finally understanding that it may be reaching the saturation point of how much people will actually pay for cigarettes and liquor. Regardless, it is becoming more and more a tax on the poor. I wish the government could do something creative, as it is usually the children of the people who are consuming cigarettes and liquor that are suffering. Maybe issuing a rewards card, or something like that, for people purchasing the items. A rewards card for groceries, obviously. For every $10 spent, you get $1 on your rewards card to purchase groceries, and by groceries, those items not subject to GST/HST/PST. Then, I would be more comfortable with the increases. At least the children would have food in their bellies.
Maternity leave has been extended to 18 months. That would be incredibly huge, if it meant a penny more money to family members making the choice to stay home with babies. So, it is the exact same amount of money spread over 18 months than 12 months. I suppose it is something, but, for the Trudeau government who has bragged about being the most Feminist government in Canadian history, it really isn't ground-breaking.
Public Transit Pass Credits being eliminated. Again, from the Government who was promoting themselves as the greenest governement ever, this doesn't do anything for their image. It is ironic that the Conservatives introduced to try to promote people not driving as much and not contributing to pollution in our air, and the Trudeau governement eliminates this. One would have thought it would be the other way around. But, that's politics.
Two other things of interest. During the election campaign, Trudeau said he would only allow a $10B deficit. This year, with the budget, our deficit should be $28B. This signals, that the Trudeau government really doesn't have any interest in balancing the budget as they promised. Quele Drole.
The second interesting thing is that how we really don't care. So far, media coverage is largely positive for the budget as there is not much to talk about. I applaud the Toronto Star for producing "10 things you must know about the budget". I couldn't find that many. Ok, let's face it. The budget really is ho hum, however, it is also really opposite of what we expected from the Trudeau government.
This means something. The first thing it could mean is that the Trudeau government doesn't really care about us. All the things that they encouraged us to care about during the election are things that they no longer appear to care about.
The second thing that it could mean that budgets aren't really written by Governments, they are written by bureaucrats. Governments come and go, bureaucrats remain. They do the work, the governments are merely figureheads.
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