(01 of33)
Open Image ModalFinance Minister Jim Flaherty is obviously very happy with his spending plan but others aren't so sure.With files from The Canadian Press, Althia Raj (credit:(CP))
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty(02 of33)
Open Image ModalNDP Leader Tom Mulcair(03 of33)
Open Image ModalLiberal Leader Justin Trudeau(04 of33)
Open Image ModalNDP Finance Critic Peggy Nash(05 of33)
Open Image Modal"Hundreds of thousands more Canadians are unemployed today than before the recession and are looking to their government for action. This budget is another Conservative disappointment." (credit:(CP))
Liberal Finance Critic Scott Brison(06 of33)
Open Image Modal"This out of touch, no-growth Conservative budget does nothing for young Canadians, who cannot find good work, or for their parents, who are paying the bills by taking on more personal debt. Instead of this unimaginative, do-nothing budget, Canadian families are looking for investments that will produce growth, including in infrastructure and post-secondary education." (credit:(CP))
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May(07 of33)
Open Image ModalGregory Thomas, Canadian Taxpayers Federation(08 of33)
Open Image ModalDan Kelly, Canadian Federation of Independent Business(09 of33)
Open Image ModalClaude Dauphin, President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities(10 of33)
Open Image Modal"We're very happy to see that 280,000 will have access to broadband internet. Is it enough? Of course, if it was everybody, we would be even more happy but 280,000 people is better than nothing." (credit:(HuffPost Canada))
Sharon Bollenbach, CEO Special Olympics Canada(11 of33)
Open Image Modal"We will be receive an extra $10.8 million over four years which is significant to us and our organization and allows us to expand our reach of having athletes with an intellectual disability engaged in sport and reaching the benefits of sports that all of us are excited about, especially with the Olympics on now." (credit:(HuffPost Canada))
Jessica McCormick, Chair of the Canadian Federation of Students(12 of33)
Open Image Modal"We're disappointed with the budget. We heard a lot about youth unemployment in the days leading up to budget so we were hopeful that there would be something substantial to address the issue. There are some paid internships, about 3,500, but there are almost 400,000 youth unemployed between the ages of 20 and 29 and so helping the 1 per cent doesn't really do something substantial to address the issue."The other part of the budget that I have some concerns with is about expanding loans for apprentices. Downloading the cost of education and training on to the individual doesn't do much to breakdown any barriers for people accessing the training. Investments in non-repayable needs based grants which the Conservatives introduced in 2008 would have been a better way to reduce debt and eliminate some of those barriers to accessing training." (credit:(HuffPost Canada))
Pamela Fralick, President and CEO of the Canadian Cancer Society(13 of33)
Open Image ModalDavid Wilkes, Senior Vice President at the Retail Council of Canada(14 of33)
Open Image ModalDennis Howlett, Executive Director of Canadians for Tax Fairness(15 of33)
Open Image ModalHowlett expressed disappointment the federal government failed to take decisive action on off-shore banking and tax avoidance. "My conclusion is that they are not very serious about tackling tax savings. They really lag behind other countries, the US, the UK, Australia, EU, they are alldoing much more than Canada on this regard. Canada is doing a few little things, but really it doesn't add up to much." (credit:(HuffPost))
Jean-Francois Tremblay, University of Ottawa Economics Professor(16 of33)
Open Image Modal"The government tabled an austerity budget that is essentially setting the stage for next year's budget when the federal government will enjoy a relatively large surplus and it is expected to introduce more costly tax cuts and possibly spending measures."The government continues with a very tight control on spending. Total spending will actually decrease in nominal terms over the next year and that is largely do to the effort asked of federal departments and of its employees. "In terms of its relations with the provinces, the government doesn't do much to ease the tensions that were created last year with the creation of Canada Job Grant program. In fact, the government announces that it will go ahead with the program on April 1, with or without an agreement with the provinces. It is also announcing a new federal loan program for worker training so I think we can expect strong reactions from the provinces, especially Quebec." (credit:(HuffPost))
Debi Daviau, President of The Professional Institute of The Public Service of Canada(17 of33)
Open Image ModalDaviau told HuffPost she found it "truly offensive" that the government was balancing the books on the backs of federal public servants.Daviau said that the 19,200 jobs the Tories had cut from the federal public service were pretty much now all eliminated. She said the two year budget freeze would mean more federal publicservice job cuts."I'm just wondering after all these years of cuts, where they are going to find these cuts that are not impacting on services to Canadians. When in fact, just the cuts over the last couple of years, we are already seeing the evidence and we are likely to be seeing the effects of these cuts for generations to come." (credit:(HuffPost))
Gordon Moore, Dominion President of the Royal Canadian Legion(18 of33)
Open Image ModalKevin Page, Former Parliamentary Budget Officer(19 of33)
Open Image Modal"Like other people have said, it's a setup budget. It's a budget with a lot of restraint," Page told CBC News. "It looks like we're headed for balance but it's an austerity budget." (credit:(CP))
Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa(20 of33)
Open Image Modal(21 of33)
Open Image ModalFinance Minister Jim Flaherty's budget predicts a deficit of $2.9 billion for the fiscal year. But Ottawa technically balanced the books when you take into account its $3 billion contingency fund. Flaherty said he didn’t want to push too aggressively, wanting a “nice clean surplus” next year. (credit:Canadian Press)
Canada-U.S. Price Gap(22 of33)
Open Image ModalThe federal government says it will crack down on companies that charge consumers more for their products in Canada than in the U.S.Using a fictitious example, Flaherty said if Walmart charged Canadians more for Cheerios than it did Americans, and didn't have an explanation, like higher trucking costs, then they should be punished. (It's not clear how they are going to do this but they plan on giving the Competition Bureau more tools to do this and more details will be announced in the coming months). (credit:Canadian Press)
'Made In Canada'(23 of33)
Open Image ModalThe federal government plans to develop a 'Made in Canada' branding program, work to establish more low-cost bank accounts and increase transparency on credit card merchant fees.
Public Service Cuts(24 of33)
Open Image ModalThe lion's share of spending cuts -- $1.5 billion -- will be targeted at the public service. The tories aim to cut $7.4 billion over the next six years from the public service compensation budget. Ottawa will drop its contributions to retired public servant health care plans from 75 per cent to 50 per cent. (credit:Getty)
Immigration Investor Program Scrapped(25 of33)
Open Image ModalThe federal government is scrapping the investor immigration program that allowed immigratns to "buy" their way into Canada with investment into the local economy. It was unclear initially whether the provincial investor programs will also be scrapped. (credit:Canadian Press)
Credit Card Bills(26 of33)
Open Image ModalThe feds say they will ban banks from charging customers money to receive their credit card bills in the mail. Ottawa says it might do the same for wireless companies too. (credit:Canadian Press)
Auto Industry Support(27 of33)
Open Image ModalOttawa said it will spend an additional $500 million for theAutomotive Innovation Fund, essentially to bail out Chrysler, whileannouncing it is selling its stocks in GM, which it received when itbailed out the company in 2009. (credit:Canadian Press)
Tobacco Prices Going Up(28 of33)
Open Image ModalOttawa plans to raise the cost of cigarettes by more than $4 on a carton of smokes. The cigarette tax would bring $685 million in new money next year. (credit:Alamy)
Jobs(29 of33)
Open Image ModalThe Conservatives are pressing ahead with the controversial Canada Job Grant program. The program covers up to $15,000 for training. When it was announced in Budget 2013, Ottawa said it would be funded in three ways split equally between the federal government, the province and the employer. But Ottawa hasn't been able to get an agreement with the provinces who are upset the federal government plans cut millions from their training budget and direct that cash towards this program. (credit:Alamy)
Youth Employment(30 of33)
Open Image ModalOttawa plans to create more than $100 million interest free loansthrough the Canada Apprentice Loan program, an expansion of the Canada Student Loans Program. It will also review the Youth Employment Strategy to provide real-life work experience in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and skills trade. The federal government says it will also dedicate more money towards internships. The budget includes a new Canada Apprentice Loan program, offering $4,000 interest free loans to students.
Rural Broadband(31 of33)
Open Image ModalOttawa will invest $305 million over five years to extend high-speed broadband to some 280,000 homes. (credit:Getty Images)
Military Spending(32 of33)
Open Image ModalTuesday's federal budget pushed $3.1 billion in planned capital spending off into the distant future, making badly needed new equipment on the Canadian military's shopping list little more than a wish list over the next three years. - CP (credit:Getty)
New Windsor-Detroit Bridge(33 of33)
Open Image ModalOttawa is giving a boost to southwestern Ontario's battered manufacturing sector with more than $1 billion in spending over the next two years to help the auto industry and build a new bridge to the U.S. at Windsor, Ont.The federal budget Tuesday called for spending $631 million over the next two years to help build a new Detroit-Windsor crossing. -CP (credit:Canadian Press)