Peace River-Westlock MP Arnold Viersen says there wasn’t much “fiscal restraint” in the federal budget.
Viersen says they were expecting a balanced budget, instead of more deficit spending.
“The debt continues to go up and so there’s a deficit in this budget of $43 billion. There’s no sense of fiscal restraint so we’re not sure what she (Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland) was talking about when she brought that forward. We also note that the carbon tax continues to go up. There was not any big shift in the government with this particular budget which we were kinda expecting given how much inflation is happening.”
Carbon tax increases that came into effect on April 1 now have the cost at $65 per tonne, which has resulted in increased gas prices and home heating costs.
Viersen says this is having a negative impact on the cost of living issues.
“The Parliamentary Budget Officer has just come out with a report saying that the average Albertan will be paying $2700 more a year than they receive back on the carbon tax. As we go forward, we’re starting to see that the governing party is seeing that the carbon tax is having a detrimental effect on particular industries, the farming community being one of them.”
The House of Commons did recently pass a bill to exempt on farm fuels from the carbon tax.
You can listen to our full interview with Viersen below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
