Bill Morneau announced his first budget as Finance Minister on Tuesday afternoon. It was the first chance for Canadians to see the new regime, led by Justin Trudeau's plans for the next year.
The overall theme to the budget, and what the Liberals primarily campaigned on, is 'growing the middle class', however many were left disappointed by the numbers in the budget.
Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus spoke with TimminsToday this evening to share his thoughts.
"Canadians are going to wake up tomorrow $30 billion dollars more in the hole. I would have thought we could have gotten more with that. There's some positives, but there's some things that have been overlooked that leave me scratching my head. I'm really glad they dropped the retirement age back to 65, that's a good sign," said Angus.
A major drawback for him, is the lack of progress on a major mining project.
"In terms of the North, no commitment to the Ring of Fire. Nothing. I don't get that at all," said Angus.
He was also hoping to see a boost for local economic initiatives.
"No mention of FedNor, that to me is concerning. It's not to say there is no money for FedNor, but it sounds like a new, invigorated FedNor is not on the table with these guys."
Another big area of concern is the continuing and increasingly dangerous situation regarding health care in the northern most regions of the Timmins-James Bay riding.
"I'm concerned about the vagueness around health care in terms of what its going to mean for our region, and certainly up into the far North where we have a health crisis, there is zero dollars for indigenous families," he said.
"You've got kids being flown out of Kashechewan today because of the health crisis, you've got Treaty 9, and all of our Northern communities in a health crisis, and they got zero dollars for it. So they've got money for infrastructure, which is all right, but wow, I was really surprised they decided to overlook that," said Angus.
He does acknowledge some positives that the Liberals have made regarding the Canadian government's relationship with First Nations peoples.
"We have some positives and some surprising shortfalls. On the water in First Nations communities, in housing and the money for the missing and murdered indigenous women inquiry, those are good starts."
Overall, Angus says this budget is like a 'shell game' where the bulk of the commitment is later down the road, with essentially little set in stone.
"They're playing games here. A lot of these are based on 'five year funding' so that means the next government has to deliver the big money. They're putting up low money now, and saying 'five years from now more money will come' that's a shell game. They know the next government isn't necessarily going to follow through, I find that disconcerting."
Arguably the biggest issue for residents of Timmins, and one that will not go away is the Connecting Link issue.
The main thoroughfare through the city that is being chewed up by a combination of heavy truck traffic and poor quality asphalt.
The Liberals promised to increase spending on vital infrastructure, and they did, citing a $11.9 billion influx over the next two years, but it remains to be seen how much, if any of that funding will find its way to the 'City with the Heart of Gold'.
"We certainly expect a lot of money will be going out the door in infrastructure. I was hoping to see a specific mention of the importance of Northern highways and roads because they are a part of the infrastructure of Canada."
Angus is concerned that yet again, a lot of the funding is likely to be spent in major cities.
"That not to say that money's not going to flow in the North, and I know a lot of projects will get off the ground, but I think we need to have a specific Northern and rural lens if we're going to be spending all this money, so that we make sure that the Northern and rural communities, which are fundamentally different than urban centres, get their fair share," he said.
He says he anticipates a lot of pushing and lobbying in regards to the infrastructure funds.
"It's the 'growing pains' budget. Its costing us a lot of money for them to get their sea legs, but I think they missed out on recognizing the differences in rural and northern infrastructure."
One of the positives for some, perhaps not so much by others, is the Liberals plan to spend $1.9 billion over the next five years for 'arts and culture'.
This is good news for those involved in heritage, galleries, museums, and of course the CBC.
"The government has said they were going to start to re-invest in arts and culture. The Harper government let it slide for too long. I certainly think that's going to be a helpful thing because these are big economic drivers in some parts of the country," said Angus.
He re-iterated his disappointment with not only the Liberal bureaucrats in Ottawa, but also some of his fellow MPs in Northern Ontario.
"When you've got a project like the Ring of Fire staring you in the face, why is the Liberal government not championing it? Why are the Liberal MPs from Northern Ontario not standing up and saying 'hey, what about Ring of Fire?' It will kick-start development across the North for generations to come."
The outspoken NDP veteran says that Canadians will now begin to realize that many of the election promises made by the Liberals, will be slow moving, if they ever come to fruition.
"Mr. Trudeau promised the moon and I don't think they ever really planned to deliver. There's some good things in this budget, but we certainly paid for the Cadillac here with this budget, but I just think we're going to end up driving an economy class car," said Angus.
