Federal Budget A ‘Disappointment’: MP Moore

The Trudeau government’s latest budget is a “disappointment” for those looking forward to pandemic recovery, according to one New Brunswick Conservative MP.

Rob Moore, who represents the riding of Fundy Royal, said the budget focuses mainly on new programs and leaves many existing programs behind.

“It’s very clear, and we’re even hearing this from Liberal members of Parliament, this is an election budget,” Moore said in an interview Tuesday.

“This is a budget that, in many cases, they have no intention of implementing before the [next] election.”

Moore pointed to the proposed $30-billion investment for a universal child care program which he said the Liberals have been promising since 1993.

Universal child care, he said, is contrary to what the Conservatives did in the past, which was to provide benefits to parents directly.

Moore said there was also nothing in the budget to increase health care support to provinces, which he said the premiers have “desperately wanted.”

Speaking to reporters Monday evening, Premier Blaine Higgs said he and his counterparts wanted to see federal health transfers gradually increased to 35 per cent.

Moore said he also wanted to see more of a focus on tourism, especially with so many tourism operators in his riding.

“There’s some funding for tourism but it’s directed to adapting to COVID,” he said.

The MP said he was glad to see a “modest increase” in Old Age Security for those over the age of 75, which he said the Conservatives have been calling for the government to do.

But Moore said Canadians should not expect the “grandiose promises” in the budget to be implemented overnight — if at all.

“This is a big-spending budget,” he said. “It’s putting a lot of big new programs in the window and is largely build around the Liberals’ narrative for the next election.”