The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Churchill MP Niki Ashton is blasting the new federal budget as one that ignores northern Manitoba while attacking pensions and health care. She said the budget neglects the West by not compensating for the negative impacts she foresees when the Canadian Wheat Board loses its monopoly powers. 'The budget does nothing to address the negative ripple effects in the Prairies,' Ashton said in a news release, 'and this budget has done nothing to commit to the bay line (leading to), or to the Port of Churchill (itself).' The Port of Churchill relies almost entirely on grain shipments from the Wheat Board. There are fears those shipments will be in jeopardy after the Board becomes just one of several Prairie wheat marketers this August. Ashton also took aim at the budget's plan to raise the age of eligibility for Old Age Security. It will gradually increase from 65 to 67 between the years 2023 and 2029. 'They are cutting the pensions of my and future generations in a way that will hurt the most vulnerable,' said the 29-year-old MP. Ashton further accused the Tories _ whose budget will most certainly pass on the strength of their parliamentary majority _ of eroding Medicare by reducing $310 million in support for Health Canada. She criticized as well $16.3 million in cuts over three years to Western Economic Div-ersification, the agency through which Community Futures Greenstone and many other economic-development agencies are funded. Ashton maligned what she called a lack of support to build and renovate schools on First Nations. 'This budget actually plans a reduction from the amount in 2009 when the government committed $165 million over two years,' she said. On the positive side, Ashton said the introduction of a First Nations Educational Act is a step in the right direction. But, she said, it remains to be seen what is contained in the Act. Not surprisingly, Ashton confirmed she will vote against a budget that is expected to garner zero support from her NDP and the other opposition parties. This marks the first time the Conservative government has tabled a budget with a parliamentary majority. It is also the first budget tabled by any majority government in Canada since 2004, when Paul Martin was prime minister and the Liberals were in power.
