2008 Canadian federal budget

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
2008 (2008) Budget of the Canadian Federal Government
Deficit
C$5.8 billion[2]
DebtC$458.7 billion[1]
Websitehttp://www.budget.gc.ca/2008/pdf/plan-eng.pdf Responsible Leadership
Numbers in italics are projections.
‹ 2007
2009

The

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on February 26, 2008.[3]

The budget included a

Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA).[4] The government announced there would be little to no new tax breaks as major tax cuts took place in the economic update during the fall of 2007 in anticipation of economic slowdowns in 2008. It was to be the last budget of the Conservative government's first term in office.[5]

The budget was deemed ordinary and uncontroversial by the press. The Liberal party had pledged not to push for an election in the spring of 2008, and so guaranteed their support for the budget. The Bloc Québécois had submitted a long list of budgetary demands to be met, which effectively eliminated them from budget negotiations. They voted against the budget.[6]

Highlights

The 2008 budget was tabled on February 26, 2008. No new tax cuts were announced in the budget, but Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced the creation of a new

Tax-Free Savings Account, into which an individual can deposit up to $5,000 a year. Flaherty said that it is the "single most important savings vehicle since the introduction of the RRSP". The TFSA was touted as a badly needed addition to the Canadian tax system as it did not make sense for low income earners and seniors to make use of existing savings programs with tax incentives, such as RRSPs. In contrast, the TFSA could be used by such demographics to enjoy savings with tax benefits.[7]

Funding was also announced for public transit, infrastructures, hiring new police officers, the reconstruction of Afghanistan, a new Student Grant Program (replacing the Millennium Scholarship Fund) and for the manufacturing sectors. In addition, the government announced the creation of a new independent crown corporation to administer the Employment Insurance System while gas tax rebate fund to the cities was made permanent. 10.2 billion dollars will be spent on the payment of the national debt.[8][9]

Reception

As did in the past, the 2008 Conservative budget was met with mixed reactions. Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, while criticizing the budget as modest and being "one mile wide" and "one inch deep", said that the party will support the budget due to measures announced surrounding the manufacturing sector as well as environment due to avoiding a spring election. Both the Bloc Québécois and the NDP announced that they were voting against the budget.

The NDP argued that the budget failed to address the need for average workers while the winners were banks, polluting industries and the well-off. Social programs got one-time commitments while corporate tax cuts were granted for many years. They further mentioned that tax cuts for big business were larger than new spending by a ratio of 6 to 1. [1]

The Bloc criticized insufficient funding for the forestry sector the lack of major announcements for the province of Quebec.

Ontario

Monique Jerome-Forget also criticized the budget by saying that it does not reflect the priorities for Quebec including the province's forest sector and post-secondary education. The Minister did praised however the permanency of gas tax rebate for the municipalities.[11]

RRSP. The creation of the new savings account also had positive reviews from several Canadian newspapers including Le Devoir, La Presse, The Globe and Mail and the National Post.[12] Aaron Freeman, policy director for the Environmental Defence, criticized the government for having no clear direction on the environment making reference to the suspension after 2008 of the tax-rebate program on fuel-efficient vehicles but praised the funding for transit and for the protection of consumers from toxins in products.[13][14]

McTeague private member bill

Liberal

2008 budget, there was no deduction for annual contributions.[15]

Though McTeague's bill passed through the

Motion of Confidence.[18] Flaherty served notice to the House of Commons on March 11 that he would introduce a motion to nullify the bill by including a provision to do so in legislation implementing the federal budget,[19] which is automatically a confidence motion. The RESP bill was the first time since 1840 that the Commons had attempted to force a change to the government's budget.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Department of Finance Canada (January 27, 2009). "Canada's Economic Action Plan: Budget 2009" (PDF). Department of Finance Canada. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 13, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  2. ^ "Canada's deficits and surpluses, 1963-2014". CBC News. CBC/Radio-Canada. 18 March 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  3. ^ "CBC News In Depth: Federal Budget 2008". cbc.ca. 2008-02-26. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
  4. ^ "Small change for tighter times". The Globe and Mail. 2008-02-27. Archived from the original on 18 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
  5. ^ CBC News (2008-02-11). "Federal budget to come down Feb. 26". CBC. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  6. ^ Marissal, Vincent (February 27, 2008). "Sans surprise et sans conséquences". La Presse.
  7. ^ Department of Finance Canada (2008-02-26). "Tax-Free Savings Account (TSFA)". Department of Finance Canada. Archived from the original on 2008-10-12.
  8. ^ Canwest News Service (2008-02-26). "Budget Highlights". The Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on 2012-11-04.
  9. ^ CTV News (2008-02-26). "Help for the middle class in Tory budget". CTV. Archived from the original on February 28, 2008.
  10. ^ CTV News (2008-02-26). "Tory budget comes up short: Ont. finance minister". CTV.
  11. ^ LCN (2008-02-26). "Le budget Flaherty ne reflète pas les priorités du Québec". Canoe.ca.
  12. ^ Radio-Canada (2008-02-27). "Un accueil circonspect". Radio-Canada.
  13. ^ Beauchesne, Eric (2008-02-26). "Tories offer a grab-bag of low-cost budget goodies for Canadians". The Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on 2012-11-04.
  14. ^ CTV News (2008-02-26). "Tories introduce Tax-Free Savings Account". CTV. Archived from the original on March 2, 2008.
  15. ^ "McTeague's manoeuvre". The Toronto Star. March 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  16. ^ "Constitution Act, 1867; IV.54". Archived from the original on 2006-06-14. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  17. ^ a b Reynolds, Neil; The Globe and Mail: MP's ruse defeated; God save the Queen; March 19, 2008
  18. ^ Corry, J. A. and Hodgetts, J. E.; Democratic Government and Politics; University of Toronto Press; Toronto, 1968
  19. ^ "Flaherty serves notice of motion to kill Liberal RESP bill". The Canadian Press. Retrieved 2008-03-13.[permanent dead link]

External links