Trudeau says Conservative vote against budget is vote against ‘justice’

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing the Conservatives of siding with “billionaires” and opposing justice for their decision not to support the federal government. budget.

The Liberals’ latest spending plan, tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday, aims to make corporations and wealthy individuals pay more capital gains taxes.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called it “waste and inflation.” budget” and said his party would vote against it.

At a Liberal caucus meeting Wednesday morning, Trudeau said it’s wrong for billionaires to be asked to pay less capital gains taxes than a teacher or electrician pays on their income.

He said the change would not affect 99.87 percent of the population at all and does not apply to the sale of anyone’s primary residence.

He did not mention the New Democrats or leader Jagmeet Singh, who has not yet promised to back the budget despite its supply and confidence agreement with the Liberals.

He budget contains several NDP priorities, including funding for the first phase of national pharmaceutical care and federal standards for long-term care.

Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet also said his group would not support the budget.

That means if the NDP breaks their agreement, the budget will fail, likely leading to elections.

Singh has said he wants to talk to Trudeau about what’s missing in the budgetincluding extraordinary taxes on excessive corporate profits.

He also said he believes the Conservatives would cancel important programs if they form government, including child care and national pharmaceutical care.

Conservative housing critic Scott Aitchison said people should not believe the Liberals’ plan will come to fruition because they have already promised housing reform and it never materialized.

“In 2017, Justin Trudeau stood in front of a huge construction project with many hard-working Canadians behind him and promised a transformative, transformative national housing strategy,” Aitchison said.

“And we see the transformation: House prices have doubled, rents have doubled, mortgage rates have doubled, and people can’t afford to put food on the table and pay rent.”

Aitchison said the solution for housing is that the government should get out of the way.

But Trudeau said it’s the Conservatives who are trying to stop progress.

“They are voting against equity,” he said. “They will vote against asking the ultra-rich to pay their share. “Canadians need responsible leadership right now – leaders who come to them with solutions and are willing to invest in Canadians’ ideas.”

He budget increased spending to more than $530 billion by 2024-25, with more than $11 billion in new spending focused primarily on housing, student aid and scholarships, along with pharmaceutical care and, finally, funding the disability benefit promised since a long time ago.

That benefit, $200 a month, is well below what advocates wanted to see.

He budget is, in some ways, a big effort by the government to appeal to millennial and Gen Z voters, who once strongly supported liberals but have increasingly leaned conservative as the affordability crisis hits them hard.

Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland are billing the budget as an equity plan for younger Canadians.

The people being asked to pay more are among those who “have benefited from an economy that seems to tilt toward them and away from everyone else, particularly young people,” Trudeau said.

“That’s why we ask you to pay your fair share so that younger generations can have the same opportunities that Xers, boomers and other generations had when they started their lives.”

The capital gains tax is expected to raise $19 billion over five years, by increasing the portion of capital gains that is taxed from 50 percent to 66 percent.

The change will apply to all corporations and trusts, along with individuals whose capital gains exceed $250,000 in a year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2024.