The Conservative government’s reported plan to delay the federal budget until April has been blasted by the opposition NDP. The party’s finance critic, Nathan Cullen, urged the Conservative government to reconsider the deferring of the federal budget, saying it is “desperately delaying in the hope that oil prices might recover. But it is no substitute for balanced economic planning.”

In the second week of January, Finance Minister Joe Oliver had announced that the budget would be delayed because of market instability. “It think they hit the panic button. This was not their plan. But I don’t think hiding under the covers and hoping things get better is what Canadians expect,” said Cullen, reported Windsor Star.

Income Splitting

The NDP had been demanding the Conservative government to scrap its income-splitting plan. The party calls it a handout to the wealthy few and would leave regular Canadians in the lurch, and it deserves to be scrapped. He made no mention of multibillion-dollar increases in child tax credits introduced by the government, which NDP is not opposing.

The NDP wanted the first phase in the subsidised childcare space significantly less burdensome than the income-splitting plan. That will create more jobs and revenue by encouraging people to return to the workforce. Cullen is sure that there would be a $1.50 to $2 return to the government for every dollar spent on the childcare plan.

The NDP spokesman said the “weakening labour market and falling revenue” will make it imperative to implement policies that can help families to make the two ends meet, while boosting economic growth. The NDP also wanted the reopening of the nine veterans’ service centres that were closed across Canada.

The government had introduced a number of family and child tax measures in October as the price of oil began to slide. But the projected cost of $26.7 billion between 2015 and 2019 can eat up most of the budget surpluses forecast at the time.

With the price of oil plunging below $50 a barrel and layoffs surging across the oil sector, federal revenues are under pressure. The NDP spokesman expressed the concern that the government might rework its formula for estimating the ongoing price of oil to balance the budget.

Wish List

Meanwhile, the NDP submitted a budgetary wish list to Finance Minister Joe Oliver. In the wish list, NDP asked the Conservative government to ditch its income-splitting plan for families with children. It also wanted the lower the age of eligibility for Old Age Security restored to 65 and a universal child care policy that would cost parents not more than $15 a day, reported Cbc. Ca News. Cullen reiterated that his party wanted to see all thse demands reflected in the upcoming federal budget.

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