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    • Budget will have NDP's support, but will also face opposition

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    OTTAWA -

    The Liberals have done enough to honour their agreement with the NDP, but that doesn't mean the federal budget will pass without opposition.

    “We still have critiques and criticisms,†NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Thursday. “We're concerned, deeply concerned, about the approach on the environment.â€

    He said the government should be spending more on clean energy instead of giving subsidies to fossil fuel companies.

    The New Democrats held to that position in question period on Friday, with Quebec MP Alexandre Boulerice saying in French that billions in subsidies to oil and gas companies and the approval of the Bay du Nord project in Newfoundland shows the Liberals think they can solve the climate crisis by giving more money to the fossil fuel sector.

    He called for funding for green jobs, a sentiment echoed by Alberta NDP MP Heather McPherson, who demanded clean-jobs training for her province's workers and legislation on a just transition to a green economy.

    Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson responded that there Is significant funding for Alberta and other Prairie Provinces to diversify their economies as well as $4 billion to grow the critical-minerals sector.

    “We are going to be working actively with the province of Alberta and with industry to ensure that we are moving forward in a manner that will create a clean economy, a prosperous economy and one that will support workers and communities to make this transition,†he said.

    Conservatives, for their part, focused on hefty spending promises in the budget that they assert will grow inflation and make it harder for Canadians to enter and remain in the middle class. Finance critic Ed Fast accused the government of tabling a “tax and spend†budget.

    “Every day we ask this government what it's doing to make life more affordable for Canadians and every day they tell us how much money they're spending,†he said. “It's not how much money you spend. It's about the results you deliver, and by that standard this government has failed.â€

    Rachel Bendayan, associate minister of finance, replied that her government's investments were delivering results, pointing to Statistics Canada jobs numbers released Friday that showed the country's unemployment rate dropped to a low not seen since the late 1970s.

    Friday is the first of four days of debate on the government motion concerning the budget. The Conservatives will have first crack at amending it, the Bloc Quebecois second. Both parties have indicated they'll be voting against the Liberals.

    The leaders of the Green party and Bloc Quebecois have also heaped criticism on the budget's environmental promises.

    Amita Kuttner said Thursday the plan to get to net-zero is not enough to meet Canada's emissions reduction targets and the Greens wanted the budget to centre on climate change in every policy area.

    Yves-Francois Blanchet, for his part, said he thinks the Liberals intend to be “the instrument†of the oil and gas industry.

    “The difference between this government and the Conservatives is the Conservatives would admit it,†Blanchet said Thursday.

    Three of the four opposition parties are praising the Liberals' emphasis on housing.

    Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the commitment to double the number of homes built annually over the next decade is the “landmark ambition†of this budget.

    The $14 billion in new spending on housing also includes a two-year ban on foreign buyers, targeted funding for municipalities to build affordable housing and money to double the first time homebuyers' tax credit.

    Kuttner said the Greens were “very happy to see the promise of 6,000 units†of co-operative housing.

    Singh said his party forced the Liberals to reconsider what the government considers to be affordable housing. It's now calculated at 80 per cent of the average market rate rather than 80 per cent of median income, a definition that “would have resulted in not-affordable housing.â€

    Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen said Thursday the Official Opposition didn't find what it was looking for in the housing plan.

    “It is a typical, classic NDP spend-and-tax budget,†she said at a news conference.

    The Tories have spent the last several weeks in question period referring to Thursday as the release of Canada's first NDP budget, demanding to know whether the Liberals would give in to the NDP's “extreme demands.â€

    Bergen said the Liberals have “lost their way,†leaning further to the left.

    “The Liberals that we knew even 10 years ago ceased to exist.â€

    The Conservatives were happy to see more than $8 billion directed toward the defence budget. They put forward a motion in the House of Commons earlier this week to raise defence spending to two per cent of Canada's GDP, a significant increase that NATO allies have been calling for.

    The budget plan will raise spending to 1.5 per cent, according to finance officials.

    That piece of the plan isn't sitting well with the Liberals' main dance partner, but it isn't enough to cause the confidence and supply deal to collapse.

    That means when Parliament resumes sitting after a two-week break, the government can breathe easy knowing it has the numbers to survive any confidence votes on the budget motion.

    Government House leader Mark Holland said debate will continue on April 25, 26 and 27.

    After that, the budget implementation bill will be up for a debate of its own.

    This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2022. 

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    Canada

    • Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.

    • Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

    • The RCMP is seeking the dismissal of three officers who have been suspended from the Coquitlam detachment since June 2021 over allegations of racist, sexist and homophobic comments made in a group chat.

    • Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

    • Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.

    • The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

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    Politics

    Health

    • A Nova Scotia woman has applied for a medically assisted death, saying after years of battling to receive out-of-country surgery for an illness that causes 'indescribable' pain, she struggles to maintain the will to live.

    Sci-Tech

    Entertainment

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    • It was the last show for longtime children's TV star Ron (Buck Shot) Barge Friday as hundreds of family, friends and fans attended a public memorial in Calgary.

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    • When Bernard Morissette got a call from Loto-Quebec on Sept. 18 and was asked if he was sitting down, he had no idea what was coming his way.

    • An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

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    • Agreement in principle has been reached to build a new NHL arena at LeBreton Flats has been reached between the Ottawa Senators and the National Capital Commission (NCC), the two sides announced Friday.

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    Local Spotlight

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    Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

    The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

    The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

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    • Ottawa police are investigating a shooting downtown Friday afternoon.

    • Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

    • When Bernard Morissette got a call from Loto-Quebec on Sept. 18 and was asked if he was sitting down, he had no idea what was coming his way.

    • A man who asserted his right to work in French has won his case before the Tribunal, invoking the new provisions of the province's French-language law (Bill 96) to that effect.

    • Two Edmonton Police Service officers have been criminally charged in connection with an assault.

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    • The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge announced Friday it is now accepting reservations from guests for accommodations beginning Oct. 1.

    • A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

    • Halifax Regional Police warned the public of a series of high-value thefts targeting retail stores Friday.

    • Air travel is back in full swing at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport.

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