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.
It's a federal budget for the well-off Canadian, CUPE National President Paul Moist said yesterday, and a missed opportunity for the Martin government. "Conservative leader Stephen Harper must be drooling over the first minority Liberal budget," Moist said. "It is a financial windfall for corporations and wealthy Canadians and a wait-for-tomorrow budget for almost everyone else." The budget eliminates the corporate surtax and reduces corporate income tax to 19 per cent from 21 per cent. It also cuts income tax, again benefiting high-income Canadians most. Total tax cuts equal more than $13 billion over three years. On child care, Moist said the government needs to invest more money faster to launch the provinces and territories on the road to a truly cross- Canada system. "The first few years of funding don't move this program forward at the speed Canada's kids and parents need," he said. "It's time to shift gears from promise to program." Moist also called for true accountability for child care delivery: reporting to Parliament on how federal money is spent. CUPE will keep pressing for measures that ensure accountability, including a dedicated transfer for child care, legislation and a commitment to fund only non-profit delivery. Big city mayors will be fuming, as is CUPE, over the backloading of the "New Deal for Cities" money. The Liberals promised $5 billion over five years, but deliver only $600 million in each of the next two years. There is also nothing to stop privatization.
