Mel Arnold in House of Commons (submitted photo/Facebook)

By Pete McIntyre

Budget review

New budget is ‘disappointing’, adds to public debt: local MP

Apr 17, 2024 | 6:00 AM

The local Member of Parliament is chastising the Trudeau government for not reining in spending in its new budget.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s 2024 budget keeps the deficit capped at $40 billion, thanks to higher-than-expected government revenues and new taxes that largely offset billions in new spending.

Freeland’s plan pledges $53 billion in new spending that she says is focused on economic justice for younger generations.

“We are moving with purpose to help build more homes, faster. We are making life cost less. We are driving the kind of economic growth that will ensure every generation of Canadians can reach their full potential,” Freeland said in the House of Commons.

The Liberal government plans to pay for most of its new spending initiatives with higher taxes on the wealthiest Canadians and businesses, and from stronger-than-expected government revenues.

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Mel Arnold, the Conservative MP for North Okanagan-Shuswap, said it was the Liberals’ ninth consecutive deficit budget that he said is “adding to Canada’s unprecedented public debt that has already increased inflation and interest rates.”

“Canada is now spending more on debt interest than it is on healthcare services, and trends like this will be worsened by this latest short-sighted Trudeau budget,” Arnold remarked.

The three-term MP from Salmon Arm said despite the new spending, the Liberals are still not providing federal resources for investments that are long overdue.

“Trudeau has cut funding for protecting British Columbia’s waters and ecosystems from invasive mussels and failed to support enhanced mental wellness and addiction treatment services while contractors with connections to his party continue to rake in hundreds-of-millions of dollars,” Arnold remarked.

Arnold said he is “disappointed” the budget doesn’t deliver the support or policies that the North Okanagan-Shuswap needs to increase housing, fight the opioid epidemic, support mental wellness or increase public safety.

Despite his rebuke of the plan, Arnold said he will continue to assess Budget 2024 and work with local governments and organizations to find ways to connect communities with opportunities that may exist in the budget.