Election vows on hold in first Liberal budget
It will be easier for jobless to get benefits
OTTAWA — The Liberal government’s maiden budget will make it easier for jobless Canadians to collect employment insurance benefits and target some additional measures at workers in energy-producing provinces hit hard by the plunge in oil prices.
But it won’t immediately deliver on some other election promises to reform the EI system, including promised improvements to parental and compassionate care benefits — measures deemed too complicated to be achieved in the first year of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mandate.
Those are just two election promises expected to be deferred in Tuesday’s budget as the fledgling government struggles to come to grips with an oil-price plunge that has sapped federal revenues and slowed already sluggish economic growth to a crawl.
Government insiders, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there would be few surprises in the budget, which will instead stick to the promised “approach” of investing in infrastructure, long-term growth and middle-class Canadians.
That means it will include two big-ticket items from the Liberal platform: an enhanced, tax-free, income-tested child benefit and at least $5 billion in new infrastructure investments.
The government has already acted on another big-ticket promise: reducing the tax rate on income between $45,282 and $90,563 while imposing a new higher tax rate on income over $200,000.
Sticking to the Liberal Platform’s general approach and honouring all the more than 200 election promises Trudeau made are two different things.
Indeed, even before adding new spending in the budget, the government has already broken one pivotal promise: the vow to keep budget deficits to less than $10 billion for the each first three years of the Liberal mandate. Finance Minister Bill Morneau revealed last month the 2016-17 deficit was en route to $18.4 billion.
Once the budget’s new investments are tallied up, the deficit is expected to balloon to about $30 billion — three times more than promised.
Some of the pricey promises aimed at improving the quality of life for indigenous peoples — included a sweeping, uncoated promise to deliver on all 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission — may not materialize immediately either, although Trudeau said Monday that the budget “will feature historic investments in First Nations and indigenous Canadians right across the country.”