By Dan Albas
This week in Ottawa began with the Finance Minister under fire for failing to place his investments into a blind trust and also refusing to disclose them in the House. As a result the Liberals made the politically wise decision to move up the fall fiscal update. Select media in Ottawa were leaked certain details suggesting that this would be a “good news” fiscal update with increased revenues and a promise to further increase the child benefit program.
In the end we learned that the “good news” was the fact that the Liberals revised deficit was going to be just under $20 billion this year.
For the Liberals, this was good news as they had thought the deficit would be even higher.
For the Opposition, this deficit is basically double the size of the modest deficits the Liberals promised. In fact the Liberals are now on a path to add $100 billion in debt over the next seven years with no plan to return to balance whatsoever.
I participated in a press conference with Diabetes Canada last Sunday where it came to light that many vulnerable citizens with Type 1 Diabetes are being denied the Disability Tax Credit from the Canada Revenue Agency.
This has shocked both the people applying and physicians, as many have qualified in previous years but have been rejected with no clear explanation as to what has changed.
Subsequently I have raised this in Question Period with some urgency. The government has denied this is an official change of policy and is working on this issue. If you are someone you know with type 1 diabetes is having any difficulty with CRA, please contact my office at 1-800-665-8711 for assistance.
My question this week: Do you see tabling a budget deficit that is roughly double the size of what was promised as “good news”?
On a final note, I would like to pass on a sincere thank you to the many citizens who responded to my previous MP reports regarding the enforcement of the Bank Act.
For those of you unfamiliar, Ottawa had announced that it intends to prohibit Credit Unions from using the terms “bank’ “banking” and “banker.” Many citizens have shared with me strong opposition to these heavy handed tactics that will add cost and create confusion to consumers and unfairly impact Credit Unions.
As a result this week I tabled my private member’s bill C-379 that proposes to amend the Bank Act and allow Credit Unions to continue using the terms “Bank” “Banking” and “Banker.”
