MacKenzie Doesn't Think Budget Will Help People in Oxford

Wednesday, 20 March 2019 15:20

Local MP Dave MacKenzie says this budget is essentially just a really expensive cover up for the SNC Lavalin affair and was designed to distract Canadians from the scandal.

OXFORD COUNTY - The Trudeau government is spending billions of dollars on everything from pharmacare to helping workers learn new skills and making home-buying easier.

The Federal budget that was released yesterday includes $22.8 billion dollars in new spending and the Federal Government is projecting a 19.8-billion-dollar deficit for the 2019-20 fiscal year.

Some of the highlights in the budget include measures to help first time home buyers who would be able to borrow money from there RRSP's to purchase a new home. It calls for improvements to Pharmacare with the government proposing to create a new department, the Canadian Drug Agency, to manage federal pharmacare. It also calls for national strategy to help fund high cost drugs for rare diseases.

The budget also earmarks money for skills training and will allow Canadians to go on E.I for additional training for their current field, or to study a new one. The budget also includes a series of measures that will benefit seniors and those nearing retirement.

Local MP Dave MacKenzie is not a fan of the budget. He says there really isn't a whole lot in this document for the people of Oxford County.

"I don't see a lot in there for people in Oxford. There is a little bit in there for new home buyers, but it is all stuff that ultimately they will pay for down the road. It looks not bad on the surface, but taking more out of an RRSP to make a down payment means you still have a debt that you have to pay. I would like to see all levels of Government get together to lower the cost of new homes. If we could get the rules and regulations stream lined so that there wasn't a huge cost for building new homes. I think that would be better for everyone, young people and old alike. There is some small items for seniors but when we look at it overall, there is not a lot for the people of Oxford."

MacKenzie says this budget is essentially just a really expensive cover up for the SNC Lavalin affair and was designed to distract Canadians from the scandal.

"We could see that coming, I think many people in the media were predicting that, that wasn't a novel thought from myself or my colleagues. The press were predicting a big spending budget to try and change that channel, but you know it has been over 5 weeks from the SNC Lavalin scandal that has consumed parliament and many in the public, so they had to try and change the conservation and the only way they had was with the budget coming up and I am not sure they were able to do that."

The Liberal budget is a stark contrast to the Conservatives call to reign in spending.