Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland arrives to a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 16.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
William O’Connell is a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto’s department of political science.
The 2024 budget includes $52.9-billion in new spending and loan programs and a commitment to not raise the deficit. That means effective tax increases, this time on the wealthiest 0.13 per cent of Canadians and a small number of corporations.
These are welcome and necessary changes. The spending programs outlined in the budget are intended to address the numerous policy crises facing the government. New housing needs to be built. New infrastructure needs to be developed. Provincial health care systems are overburdened and underfunded. Expanding access to lifesaving medication is long overdue. Our commitments to our NATO allies are more important than ever. Inflation has wreaked havoc on the pocketbooks of poor and middle-class........