Lukiwski unimpressed with budget

Tom Lukiwski has very little use for the most recent iteration of the federal budget, citing a host of issues that leave him “very fearful for our economic outlook for this year and years hence.” The Conservative Member of Parliament for Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan expressed his disappointment in the 2018 spending plan revealed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Feb. 27, with his largest point of contention a lack of attention paid to the priorities of Saskatchewan residents. “There’s no money in there for some of the priorities we have in Saskatchewan,” Lukiwski said shortly after Question Period on Feb. 28. “I would have liked to have seen at least some mention of agricultural assistance. Right now, we have a grain transportation problem, producers are finding it difficult to get their product to market, but there’s absolutely not one word about agriculture in the entire 357page budget document. That’s just shameful.

“I’m very disappointed, as are most Canadians who have taken a good look at this budget. As Andrew Scheer, our opposition leader said, never has a government spent so much for so little... it really is a Seinfeldian budget in that it’s all to do about nothing.”

The opposition has spoken greatly in recent days to the ongoing deficit issue, with the federal budgetary balance not expected to fall below $12.3 billion before 202223. Lukiwski pointed to the Department of Finance studies that say Canada won’t be able to balance the budget until 2045, creating a debt load he finds very concerning. By that time they will have racked up close to $500 billion in additional debt,” Lukiwski said. “That debt has to be paid by someone and it’s going to be our kids and our grandkids repaying it.

“This is government that has a spending problem and is spending out of control and doing nothing to address that. There’s no talk about lowering taxes, there’s no talk about dealing with the competitive disadvantage we have with the United States, nothing that talks about increasing our trade opportunities and nothing about ensuring our natural resources, the oil and gas sector, get their products to market. It’s a really do-nothing political document rather than a budget.”

A budget highlight that drew much attention was the announcement of a study geared toward the implementation of a pharamacare drug program that would see medications covered for most Canadians. Lukiwski referenced the failed national daycare initiative as a sign of where he and his fellow opposition MPs expect that plan to go.

“It’s wonderful to say you’re committed to a national pharmacare program, but there’s no detail in the budget that says how they’re going to achieve that,” he said. “They have commissioned a committee to examine pharmacare, but no commitment whatsoever to say when and how much it would cost to have this program implemented.

“I go back to recent history in the late 1990s and early 2000 when the Liberals, for four consecutive elections, promised in each election that they would institute a national daycare program. Every year they promised it and never delivered. So this is a government is great at talking about things but never delivering. It’s easy to say you’re committed to it but never doing anything. This is a government that is very fond of talking the talk but not walking the walk.”

The 2018 budget isn’t all completely bleak in Lukiwski’s eyes – the plan to spend $172.6 million over the next three years to put clean drinking water on First Nations reserves is something he feels is a major positive.

“On an aspirational front, they’ve said they would like to see the end of boil water advisories on reserves by the end of 2021. If they can do that, good on them, I’m 100 per cent behind them,” Lukiwski said. “We have yet to see whether or not they can fulfill that commitment, but it’s a laudable goal and this is certainly something they should be striving to achieve.” In the end, though, the debt and spending is where the buck stops, and that remains the greatest concern.

This is an economic approach that is fraught with danger and I’m very fearful of what might happen in the years to come,” Lukiwski said. “Ultimately if we keep racking up debt like this with no gameplan to get out of deficit and without any good gameplan to increase the economy and increase jobs, we’re going to be in a passel of trouble. I think the government has severely missed the mark.”