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| ELECTORNIC EDITION |
| 2007-03-19 |
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GLOBAL CHINESE PRESS |
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Bloc to support budget; Liberals, NDP say no
2007-03-19 14:17 CBC News | Moments after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty introduced the federal budget Monday, the opposition Liberals and NDP denounced the plan and vowed to vote against it.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said the budget did little for the average Canadian family and failed to bring federal funding in areas such as child care, education and the environment up to levels seen before the Tories made significant cuts in their last budget.
"I've never seen a government do so little with so much and that's why we can't support such a budget," Dion told CBC News outside the House of Commons following Flaherty's presentation.
"If this budget stands, what will happen is the prosperity gap will continue to widen," NDP Leader Jack Layton told CBC News outside the Commons.
"It's as if the kitchen table got a few crumbs, while the boardroom table got big corporate tax cuts. That's not the right direction."
'It's our money. We'll take the money and André Boisclair will win the next Quebec election.'—Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe
The move will not be enough to trigger a federal election, as the Bloc Québécois indicated it would support Flaherty's plan and ensure its passage.
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Under the budget, Quebec would get roughly $698 million of the $1.5 billion in the upcoming fiscal year designed to correct the so-called "fiscal imbalance" between Ottawa and the provinces.
"It's our money," Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe told CBC News Monday outside the Commons after Flaherty's speech.
"We'll take the money and André Boisclair will win the next Quebec election."
But Duceppe took issue with the way funding will be distributed to the province.
"It's always a decision made by Ottawa and that is wrong for Quebec," he said.
PM playing 'public relations' with environment: May
Duceppe also dismissed Dion's assertion that a Liberal government would provide a bigger payout under its own plan to address the fiscal imbalance.
"They had the chance and they didn't."
Green party Leader Elizabeth May, who does not hold a seat in Parliament, accused the Harper government of playing "public relations" with the environment by reannouncing previously cut programs with only "some of the money, but less cohesion" than under the previous Liberal government.
"We're just losing time and we can't afford to lose time," May told CBC News. |
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