The federal government will not introduce “massive, costly bureaucratic programs” in the upcoming budget, Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver says in response to a list of budget demands released by the NDP.
The NDP’s demands are included in a letter NDP finance critic Nathan Cullen sent to Oliver on Sunday, asking the minister “to give middle class families a break” in his next budget, which has been pushed back to April.
Oliver issued a brief response Sunday evening, saying that he will give the letter “due consideration.” However, he accused Cullen of failing to “take into account what I have made abundantly clear to Canadians.
"Our government will not embark on massive, costly bureaucratic programs, throw the country into a large deficit and pile on debt that would burden our children and grandchildren. Furthermore, we do not intend to cancel our family benefit program, which mainly advantage low and middle income Canadian families."
In his letter, Cullen asked Oliver to scrap the federal government’s recently announced income-splitting plan for families with children under the age of 18. Critics have said the scheme will only help a minority of Canadian families.
The letter also included a number of budget demands, including:
- Implement NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair’s plan to reduce childcare costs to $15 a day.
- Give small businesses that create jobs a break and take urgent action to address a youth unemployment “crisis.”
- Reverse Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s plan to cut $36 billion from provincial health care budgets and work to reduce wait times.
- Return Old Age Security eligibility to 65 years old.
- Build the economy by working with companies to create “sustainable clean jobs” and ensure polluters pay the cost of their “environmental mess.”
