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.
NDP MP Bev Desjarlais said Wednesday's minority budget is better than Paul Martin's majority budgets, but it's still not great. "The budget spends billions on corporate tax cuts and puts more money into unaccountable foundations, but appears to fall short of Liberal Kyoto promises, and invests almost nothing in education, aboriginal communities, or affordable housing," said Desjarlais. "The Auditor General has been critical of the government for placing money in foundations that are outside the scrutiny of Parliament," she noted. "Prior to this budget almost $9 billion had gone to foundations. That is 36 times more money than the entire Sponsorship Program, and cannot be audited by the Auditor General Sheila Fraser." The budget continues to ignore the real needs of aboriginal people. After stating, once again, that aboriginal communities are in a shameful state in his second Throne Speech as Prime Minister, Martin offered as a solution to the total lack of housing Ñ contaminated with asbestos or not Ñ 6,400 new homes and 1,500 to be renovated for the entire nation. "Once again the Liberals are just offering the very basic minimum to aboriginal people, this is not a solution to the catastrophic lack of housing on reserves, and this is nothing less than a kick in the teeth." The NDP is concerned that key tools for building a better economy are being ignored again. This budget only extends the eligibility for loan forgiveness to students in the unfortunate event that they become permanently disabled or die. Chronic shortages in the Employment Insurance program are largely ignored, and Canada will again fail to keep our promise to the world on foreign aid. "It is also true that throwing money at problems without plans is doomed to fail. Yet from peacekeeping to pollution, and poverty to privatization, Mr. Martin has no plan," said Desjarlais. "The NDP is fiscally responsible and we agree that less debt is good, but we think lower tuition, proper funding for health care, and less pollution are good too. In this minority government, we expected Mr. Martin's budget to show the balance his majority budgets lacked, instead he's giving us a Conservative budget, even though they did not win the election."
