OTTAWA - Canada’s New Government tabled a balanced budget March 19 that restores fiscal balance, cuts taxes for working families, invests in priorities like health care and the environment, and reduces our national debt.
“Our budget cuts taxes for working families, cracks down on corporate tax avoiders, and invests in key priorities that make Canada great, including the preservation of the environment and the improvement of our health care system,” said Ted Menzies, Member of Parliament for Macleod.
Budget 2007 builds a stronger, safer, better Canada by delivering the following benefits for Canadians:
- Further tax relief for working families with the Working Families Tax Plan that includes a new $2,000 per-child tax credit, saving Alberta parents an estimated $173.2 million.
- Budget 2007 also puts an end to the marriage penalty by increasing the spousal amount available to one-earner couples or a single parent, saving Alberta residents an estimated $30.2 million.
- This budget also helps parents save for their children’s education by strengthening the RESP program and supports seniors by raising the age limit for RPPs and RRSPs to 71 from 69.
- Further debt reductions resulting in savings for Canadians. After paying down $13.2 billion on Canada’s national debt in September 2006, Budget 2007 further reduces the debt by $9.2 billion. Thanks to the government’s Tax Back Guarantee, the interest savings on this year’s debt repayment will be returned to Canadians in the form of further tax cuts.
- Strengthening social programs by providing $400 million for the Working Income Tax Benefit, with benefits for Alberta workers of $55.2 million, and $140 million to establish a National Disability Savings Plan.
- Restoring fiscal balance by providing $39 billion in additional funding which will allow provinces and territories to better provide services and infrastructure that matter to Canadians, while respecting our commitment on the exclusion of non-renewable natural resources revenues from the calculation. For Alberta this unprecedented level of federal support totals more than $3 billion, including $1.8 billion in Canada Health Transfer, $983 million through renewed and strengthened Canada Social Transfer, an increase of more than $350 million from 2006-07, and $26 million to create child care spaces.
- Preserving the environment by providing almost $156 million to Alberta under the new Canada ecoTrust for Clean Air and Climate Change to co-fund major projects that will result in real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants.
- Improving health care by investing $900 million in the Canada Health Infoway, and providing the provinces with $300 million for a cervical cancer immunization.
- Improving infrastructure by providing stable base funding amounting to $17.6 billion through the four-year extension of the Gas Tax Fund beyond 2010-11 and the increased GST rebate for municipalities. In 2007-08, this amounts to an estimated $171.3 million for Alberta.
- Supporting our First Nations by extending and more than doubling funding for the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership increasing it by $105 million over the next five years. Aboriginal Canadians are under-represented in the labour market and ASEP has helped ensure they receive the skills and employment training they need to increase their participation.
- Supporting science and technology by providing $120 million to strengthen the operations of centres of excellence that are putting Canada at the forefront in important areas of science and innovation, including the Canada School of Sustainable Energy, a joint effort of the University of Alberta, the University of Lethbridge and the University of Calgary.
- Supporting our farmers by providing $1 billion in commitments to farmers for improvements to national farm income programs, including $600 million to kickstart contributory style producer savings accounts and a direct payment of $400 million to producers to help address high production costs. Farmers in Alberta will receive approximately $210 million under these initiatives.
Further information on Budget 2007 can be obtained by visiting the Department of Finance website or by phoning 1 800 O-Canada (1 800 622-6232) or 1 800 926-9105 (TTY for the speech and hearing impaired/deaf).
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