Many questions remain on the federal budget by Finance Minister Bill Morneau in Ottawa.
One of the announcements raising some eyebrows was the federal Liberals plan to see a deficit of over 18-billion dollars with a three billion dollar risk adjustment.
The party’s financial management is worrisome according to Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad.
“The fact that they have no projection whatsoever to be able to handle an economic downturn is no outlook for that and the spending level needs to be brought into balance and that will create challenges down the road for us as a country.”
On the flip side, Ottawa will provide some benefit to Northern BC in the 2018 version of the budget.
Rustad says the forestry sector will receive a helping hand from the federal liberals, however, it won’t completely fix a long-standing issue.
“The one hundred and ninety-one million dollars over five years to support softwood lumber through the litigation process, that’s a good thing to have, unfortunately, it signals the chances of a softwood lumber deal happening anytime soon with the United States are pretty remote.”
The increased investment toward first nations was a step in the right direction according to Rustad but more work still needs to be completed.
“The federal government appears that they are going to go and give loan forgiveness, that’s created from the treaty process that is hundreds of millions of dollars that are hanging over first nations head and the loan forgiveness I think is a big step towards what we need to do in creating long-term reconciliation.”
“We’re not going to be able to solve the end of this issues unless we can engage economically, the government can write as many checks they want and it’ll all be helpful but until we have first nations fully engaged in the economy and taking advantage of those opportunities, I think we’re not going to see the results that we’re hoping.”
With the indigenous funding and the focus now on services, it’s time for BC to cash in and get their fair share.
“British Columbia has not been receiving its fair share of those dollars over the years, historically we’ve been way behind what the per capita funding has been to other jurisdictions for indigenous people so my hope is with this additional funding coming in that balance will be found.”
Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris has also expressed concern over the federal budget with most of his frustration centered around pot legalization.