“Mr. Speaker, as I was saying on March 22...”
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty couldn’t resist throwing out that barb on Monday when he introduced the federal budget, and not surprisingly, it brought down the House.
It was also, in a sense, prophetic. Flaherty’s new 2011 federal budget has been changed very little from the original document tabled in late March, which precipitated the defeat of the previous Harper government and led Canadians to the polls for a May 2 election. The resulting Conservative majority is making it easy to pass it this time.
"On Election Day, Canadians expressed their support for the government’s economic record and its plan to ensure Canada remains at the forefront of economic growth and job creation,” said Flaherty, in a press release.
Flaherty’s belt-cinching fiscal plan does not include any massive new spending initiatives, but it will pump an extra $1 billion into annual federal spending for seniors, businesses and research.
Still, it would be incorrect to label the federal budget as identical to previous. One change will see $2.2 billion headed to Quebec, part of a Conservative election promise to help the province reform its sales tax system to a model more closely aligned with the federal GST. The other change gutted the $2-per-vote taxpayer subsidy for federal political parties originally introduced under the Liberals in 2003, and long a bone of contention for the Conservatives.
“If a deal has to be struck with Quebec, then certainly the other provinces, B.C., Ontario were given some funding to help harmonize the tax,” said Medicine Hat MP LaVar Payne, who explained the rationale behind Quebec’s pay day. “It sounds like Quebec is going to try to do that. I’m not sure how that’s going to work exactly, but by mid-September I think they’re hoping to have the deal concluded. In terms of the subsidy, I was always against the subsidy to begin with, so I’m quite happy to see it eliminated.”
Some $300 million additional dollars have been earmarked for increased aid for low-income seniors, intended to take effect on July 1, which works out to roughly $50 per person.
“I’d like to point out that we’re following through on our commitments in supporting families, particularly the seniors. There’s some additional funding that we’re going to provide for the Guaranteed Income Supplement.”
Those looking to spruce up with a little green energy efficiency will qualify for a federal program, added Payne. 
“Of course, one of the big things that was talked about over and over again last year was the ecoENERGY Retrofit program. The funding was actually applied for from March of last year right through until March of this year. Of course, there was no more money available, and so that was a bit of a concern for people, but I was glad to see that was back in the budget this time around.”
For Payne, this federal budget is all about keeping Canada’s economy on the right path to recovery. 
“I think that is something we certainly want to see continuing on the course is to make sure that we have a low tax plan. That creates investment in jobs and certainly allows individual taxpayers to have more money in their pockets so they can actually spend it on whatever they decide, is important for them, which in turn, helps the economy.”
Flaherty’s belt-tightening measures continued, with the announcement the government was ratcheting up the pace towards erasing the federal deficit by one year, to 2015, one year earlier than was originally foreseen in the March 22 budget. 
“The sooner we do that, the better it is for our overall economy, for creating more jobs, and starting to pay down the deficit, because that’s really important,” said Payne. “The national debt, to get that back on track and start repayments — we’d paid down about $40 billion prior to the global recession, but we need to have some focus to bring that back under control.”
On just where the federal government would be finding this extra money —  apparently some $4 billion in extra savings — Flaherty was more tight-lipped, and quipped conclusions reached in the Strategic and Operating Review. These forecast savings are anything but concrete but are intended to be squeezed from the $80 billion bill that makes up the annual operating cost of government. Flaherty also hinted this effort will axe funding for or eliminate a number of government programs.
Volunteer firefighters across the country with 200 hours or more of service had reason to be happy with the new budget, with the inclusion of a Volunteer Firefighters Tax Credit of $3,000 targeting the essential nature of the service they provide to people and communities.
“I did talk with a bunch of volunteer firemen in the riding, and they were really excited about being able to have that tax credit — it’s another way to encourage them to continue on as volunteer firemen,” said Payne.
While much has been made of the perception the free financial lunch at Ottawa’s trough is coming to an end for those hogging up the stimulus dollars, this year’s budget deficit is still on the rise, but mostly as a result of the $2.2 billion tax deal struck with Quebec. Still bucketing red ink, the federal deficit is expected to be $32.3 billion in 2011-12 before dropping to $18.4 billion in 2012-13.
A temporary hiring credit of up to $1,000 for small businesses to offset premium increases is the showpiece of a suite of initiatives affecting Employment Insurance.
“We’re continuing on with our EI initiatives and also the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers, extending that particular program, which I think is a really important one, it covers people from age 55 to age 64 who may have lost their jobs for whatever reason, there’s an opportunity for them to get some new skills and get back into the workplace,” said Payne.
Getting a needed $80 million boost in federal spending will be the Industrial Research Assistance program to help small businesses incorporate new technologies into their operations, and new Children’s Arts Tax Credit of up to $500 per child of eligible fees was also thrown in for good measure.
With the almost entirely new make-up of Parliament, Payne referred to the subdued atmosphere in the House during its first question period on Monday.  
“It was actually fairly tame. The NDP said they weren’t going to do any heckling, and so the question period proceeded as normal. I think it was probably a little quieter — there was probably a fair amount of cheering going on as well, and clapping, for people who got up to ask questions. Most were thanking their riding voters for electing them. It was kind of nice to see.”
Payne also had a good impression of the new Speaker of the House, Andrew Scheer, the youngest Member of Parliament to have ever been elected to the respected position within the House of Commons.
“I was kind of trying to keep a bit of an eye on him, and I noticed he was keeping pretty much on the timeframe that you’re allotted, those who were speech-heavy, because they’d already run over their 30 seconds or one minute. I was think he was trying to be pretty fair in the whole process. He’s a type of guy, he’s learned on the job, and he’s got a fair amount of experience already. I think he’ll do just fine.”