OTTAWA -- Experts, stakeholders, and working Canadians are weighing in on the Liberals’ spring budget, presented by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in the House of Commons on Monday.

The budget makes big promises on child care, job creation, Indigenous health and housing, green infrastructure, and pledges to continue COVID-19 pandemic aid spending for employees and employers for the next several months to help the economy bounce back.

Reaction to national child-care investment:

“Let’s recognize the historic moment that we are in here. It took Canada’s first female finance minister to do what no man was able to do before her and bring about a legitimate child care program for the long-haul,” said Goldy Hyder, the president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada on CTV News Channel’s Power Play on Monday. “We can’t afford to have people sitting at home so getting people back to the workforce -- yeah it will have some complications with provinces here and there – but I think it’s a true win, win, win.”

Reaction to business supports and the extension of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy to Sept. 25:

“I don’t know if September is actually the right idea. Honestly, I think that the subsidies should be extended until the end of 2021, well into even 2022. We don’t know if the customers are going to come back the same way they did before,” said Toronto-based retailer Nadine Devereux-Iacullo on CTV News Channel on Monday.

“I think small businesses right now are hoping that the subsidies will get them to an end point, and then we’ll have an opportunity to get back at what we do and what we love and get our teams on the floor and everybody able to prosper. But there is a point where too much debt is just too much debt,” said Calgary-based business owner Lisa Maric on CTV News Channel on Monday.

Reaction to support for Indigenous communities:

“It’s going to help, there’s no question, but we’ve got to keep advocating for greater investments,” Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said on CTV News Channel’s Power Play on Monday. “This moves in the right direction but continual investments need to be made and I need Canadians to get onside with this because the socio-economic gap that exists between First Nations and the rest of Canadian society is huge.”

Reaction to the federal deficit and predicted growth in the economy:

“One of the things that is very clear is that in the medium term, we are going to see the economy bouncing back. We’ve had the economy over the last year in a medically-induced coma, when we take those restrictions off there’s an enormous amount of pent up demand in the economy,” said Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, on CTV News Channel’s Power Play on Monday. “The real question is can we sustain the sort of growth that we’re going to need to have to be able to bring the level of the deficit down.”