Thursdays federal budget follows a keep calm and carry on philosophy, said Delta Richmond-East Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay.
Reached in Ottawa the day after federal finance minister Jim Flaherty handed down the document in the House of Commons, Findlay said, Basically, were building on the successes that we have already had.
She added that Canada is among the top countries in the G7, despite the continued fragility of global economics.
Weve done really well since the depth of the recession, she said. We have seen the creation of over 950,000 net new jobs. Most of them full time.
One of the major focuses of the budget was spending on skills training in Canada to address a shortage in the workplace.
We have thousands of jobs out there that arent being filled, Findlay said. We want to give Canadians the first crack at those jobs. But we also need the skills training availability. Its all about getting Canadians to workthose who can work, those who want to work. Its about giving them the opportunity to do so.
The budget outlines a Canada Job Grant that would provide a total of $15,000 for skills training that would be divided equally between Ottawa, the provinces and employers.
What were trying to do with this budget is continue to support skills training and infrastructure building in communities.
To help make the federal tax collection system more efficient, Flaherty announced a snitch hotline for the public to report those cheating on their taxes.
A reward of 15 per cent of the taxes owed goes to those making the report.
Its about strengthening compliance. Basically, I think most Canadians understand their taxes are put to good effect, Findlay said.
Stating she felt the budget was a good news one, Findlay said it also includes breaks for young families that for her hits particularly close to home.
Im about to become a grandmother, so my daughter is going to be happy to hear theres an easing of tariffs on baby clothes, said Finday, 58. So, theres things targeted to families.
In terms of impact on Canadas men and women in uniform, Findlay, who was recently named associate minister of defence, said there are no major cuts to the Canadian Armed Forces.
We had unprecedented investment in the (armed forces) budget since we took office. That incurred delivery of new planes, trucks, tanks and to set up a process to deliver on a new federal fleet of ships.
But as Canada moves away from an active combat role in Afghanistan, we are looking to balance the administration of these investments towards taxpayers interests. We also need to ensure we have military capability to defend Canada and our interests when need be.
The federal budget also outlined $1.3 billion for affordable housing, and $47 billion in infrastructure spending over the coming decade to repair bridges, roads and sewers across the country.
Flaherty announced that it was the federal governments goal to achieve a budget surplus of $800 by 2015-16.
