Incumbent member of Parliament John Weston said he wasn't sure what New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton found lacking in the federal budget brought down by his minority Conservative Party government Tuesday.
Weston said given the overall goal of keeping the economy growing while reducing the deficit, it had just the right blend of fiscal restraint and help for Canada's most needy.
But Weston, who sometime today (March 25) could officially be seeking re-election to the job of representing the West Vancouver - Sunshine Coast - Sea to Sky Country riding he first won in 2008, reserved his sharpest political barbs for the opposition Liberals - expected to be his own, and his Tories, main opposition should an election be called.
In particular, he took aim that Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff had stated his intention to vote against the budget even before he saw it. Layton only did that after the budget came down -apparently without enough of the social supports being sought by the NDP caucus.
"The NDP at least indicated a desire to listen and work in the best interests of Canadians," Weston said, about three hours after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty brought down the budget. "You can't say that about the Liberals. The federal parties ought to be working in the best interest of Canadians, not just themselves. "It's a great budget that responds to the needs of Canadians at this very specific time in our history and the needs and priorities raised by people in our riding."
Dan Veniez, the Liberal Party nominee said Ignatieff, over the past few months, has been consistent in saying that three main things would be required for his party to support the budget: a proper costing of the Tories' crime bills and purchase of F-35 fighter jets for the Canadian Forces, and scrapping the government's plan to cut corporate taxes.
"We've consistently said that if those three things are not addressed in a satisfactory way in the budget, we're not going to support it," Veniez said. "We're in favour of lower taxes, but against the backdrop of the still-shaky recovery that we're in, some choices have to be made, and those choices need to include where to spread the burden. We say you shouldn't put undue burden on the middle class and the most vulnerable."
Veniez said that if an election is called, it will be about trust and competent management of the country.
"The sticker price for those things that I talked about is $45 billion. I call that dubious spending," he said. "It's about trust. It's about competence, and it's about the character of the man who is prime minister of Canada."
NDP nominee Terry Platt said that while she saw some things to like in the budget, there were also a couple of glaring deficiencies -and a couple of well-intentioned measures that didn't do nearly enough to help those on fixed incomes and those who are struggling because of the skyrocketing costs of fuels to heat their homes.
The New Democrats, said Platt, wanted to see the government do away with the federal tax on home heating oil, were hoping for reforms to the Canada Pension Plan and wanted to see a much larger increase in support for seniors.
The additional $600 a year for individuals and $840 for couples through the seniors' Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) "may look nice, but it's really not very much. How many loaves of bread will it pay for? How many bills is that going to pay? It's really a disappointment," Platt said.
Weston touted not only the GIS increase, but the continuation of the Eco-Energy Retrofit program - worth $400 million in this budget - the Family Caregiver Tax Credit for those who choose to stay at home to care for a loved one, a tax credit of $3,000 per year to those who put in at least 200 hours per year as volunteer firefighters and the extension of a tax credit for children's arts training as reasons for seniors and families to support the budget.
"There's a strong commitment to entrepreneurs and job creation, there's a hiring credit for small businesses," he said, referring to a one-time tax credit of up to $1,000 for small businesses who hire new employees. "That gets people back to work. Since 2009, we've created 480,000 new jobs and this shows our continued commitment to that goal."
Green Party nominee Brennan Wauters said he, too, saw a few things he liked in the budget. But he said some measures didn't go far enough, for example, the Tories are offering $40,000 in student loan forgiveness to doctors and $20,000 to nurses who opt to start their careers in rural communities.
"That benefit should be extended to any person who has a degree in anything to encourage them to establish themselves in rural areas," Wauters said. "We need to relieve some of that burden and I think the Conservatives have missed an opportunity to help people who can help build rural communities."
Wauters said he opposes the Harper government's plan to spend billions on new F-35 fighter jets for the Canadian Forces.
"I think that's a problem. Number one, it's far too expensive, and number two, it's not the direction that Canada should be going," he said.
