As Patrick Weiler, the West Vancouver - Sunshine Coast - Sea to Sky Country Member of Parliament, travelled to Ottawa from his riding, he shared his thoughts on how the proposed federal budget for 2023 could apply to his constituents.
His highlights include the introduction of a one-time grocery rebate, credit card use at small businesses and health care access.
This budget, he said, “comes in a time where I think a lot of Canadians, certainly residents on the Coast, have concerns about rising cost of living and inflation. This budget really is responding to that and making sure we’re making life more affordable for people.”
Inflation and cost of living
Weiler said concerns he’s hearing on the Sunshine Coast include the rising cost of food.
The one-time grocery rebate can provide up to $467 for eligible couples, and is meant to help ease pressure for low-to-moderate income Canadians. Weiler said the estimate is 11 million people.
A new system for automatic tax filing is expected to expand to include three times the people who are currently eligible. “This is actually really important because there's over a million Canadians that don't file their taxes, and many of them are eligible for a number of the benefits that we have, whether that's the Canada Child Benefits, or old age security…,” Weiler added. That initiative was started as a pilot project, and the Liberals hope to “massively scale it up,” he said, through the budget.
As of April 1, young Canadians have a new option for trying to get into the housing market. Weiler points to the First Time Homebuyers Savings Account, which will allow people to put money in a tax-free savings account for a down payment on their first home.
Small businesses
The margins of small businesses have been affected by the rising cost of doing business, Weiler said. That’s represented in the budget by an agreement between the government and credit card companies to reduce the credit card swipe fees by 27 per cent.
“Some small businesses are spending thousands of dollars every month on this, so that'll help their margins which then in turn helps them … be able to lower prices,” Weiler said.
Health
The biggest part of the budget, according to Weiler, is health care. He acknowledged the Sunshine Coast as one of the most senior communities in B.C. Proposed health care investments will be delivered through the provinces, Weiler said the federal government will ensure the focus is on providing access to a family health practitioner for all Canadians, including those in underserved and remote communities, such as the Coast.
An income boost for personal support workers is also important to Weiler, “because we rely so heavily on those folks, and they’re underpaid for the critical work they do.”
“Part of our agreement with the provinces is bringing in accountability for the money that we send to them so that they're going to be able to track how this investment is affecting things like wait times for surgeries or access to health practitioners so that we measure the progress of that over time,” he added. He also welcomes the move to require provinces to speed up the foreign credential recognition program.
Big spending plan
When asked what his response is to those who are critical of how much spending the Liberal government has proposed — $59.5 billion in new spending, and a projected $40.1 billion federal deficit for the coming fiscal year — Weiler touched on the big investments in clean tech and the green economy as a way to provide more jobs.
“This budget had to walk a very fine line because, on the one hand, we don't want to exacerbate the inflation that we're seeing by adding too much spending. But on the other hand, we need to provide relief to people that really need it right now,” Weiler said.
“We're going to be going through some economic headwinds where the economy is slowing down as a result of those interest rates rises. And so the measures that we have in this budget is really helping people to get through that. And coming out of this year, we know we're going to be the best positioned to be able to grow our economy.”
Another investment is in the healthcare sector. “I think if you ask Conservatives if they think health care spending is important, and ask them if we should cut that, I don't think that they're going to agree to that. So people are raising concerns about spending, I think you have to ask, what are you going to cut?” Weiler said.
“I think that line has been walked here, but we do need to be very conscious of spending just like everybody in Canada has is conscious of spending.”
While the budget will still be debated in the coming weeks, Weiler is hopeful it will be passed before the end of May. He expects to have more news to share on the Budget Implementation Act, with specific regard to Canada’s anti-money laundering regime.
With files from the Canadian Press
