Budget 2017 misses the mark for constituents in Bow River

The Newsy Neighbour Magazine

www.thenewsyneighbour.com

April Issue 114

Article Provided By: Martin Shields, MP

Budget 2017 was presented to the House of Commons on March 22^nd. The Liberal government and their Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, have again presented a budget that will leave billions of dollars of debt for children and grandchildren to pay.

The Liberals have decided that they want to continue nickel and dime Canadians so that they can further add to the taxpayers already maxed out credit card. 

There are tax hikes that will hurt working families and affect our most vulnerable citizens like our seniors, who have been completely ignored. These tax hikes will negatively impact people with young children.  

Prime Minister Trudeau’s government has indebted future generations to pay for their expensive schemes. Our Conservative Party will continue to be the voice of taxpayers.

While this Prime Minister is off vacationing and taking selfies, Bow River constituents need leadership and relief now. For the natural resource sector, this budget is like kicking Alberta when it is down, since the Liberals are changing the way deductions for newly found oil and gas wells are calculated. 

These are tough times for people across Alberta. We need a budget that creates jobs, and incentivizes innovation and growth in our small businesses. Unfortunately, this Liberal budget did nothing to address those issues. The only growth we have seen since 2015 is that the federal government has grown by 12%! Raising taxes on alcohol and tobacco, hiking EI premiums, slashing tax credits brought in by the previous Conservative government, and growing the size of government are not ways to jumpstart a stale economy. 

The Liberals have allocated money to prosecute small businesses like professional services, agriculture producers, etc., because they believe they are tax cheats. Nothing could be further from the truth. Small businesses value their money, and invest it in hiring local people and supporting our rural economy. 

Companies across Canada are ready to pack up and leave for the United States. Their current government understands that business taxes must be low, and you cannot have a regressive carbon tax if you hope to be competitive on the world stage. Yet there was no tax relief whatsoever in this budget. 

I invite you to share your views with me on this or any other federal issue. You can reach me in Brooks at 1-844-241-0020 or martin.shields.c1@parl.gc.ca, in Strathmore at 403-361-2980 or martin.shields.c2@parl.gc.ca, or in Ottawa at 613-992-0761 or martin.shields@parl.gc.ca.