Kevin Sorenson, Minister of State for Finance and Crowfoot MP was through Drumheller last Friday afternoon to talk budget with some area residents.
He met with civic and municipal leaders from the area as well as citizens at large to discuss a number of topics.
These included how the federal government can help support the costs of living and raising a family, what could be done to help develop business, how to increase the promotion of Canada and Canadian products overseas and any other area where the federal government can help find additional savings in quest of its goal to balance the budget by 2015.
“We invited people to come and talk about the budget, the issues they face in business, in families and in the community and how can we help with the federal budget and how can the federal government invest in the things that matter most to Canadians,” he said.
This pre-budget consultation came just a day after Minister of Finance Joe Oliver announced that the federal budget would be pushed back to at least April.
“The markets are volatile right now, it is difficult to target what revenues will be at. I think what we have done is a prudent measure to better understand where the markets are, and sometime in the spring we’ll come forward with a budget and have a better idea of where the markets are going, and where oil is,” said Sorenson.
He said the volatility of oil affects the province and the federal government in different ways. While the province will lose precious oil and gas royalties, the federal government could come up short on revenue.
“In the long term, it affects revenues, and when revenues are affected, programs are affected,” said Sorenson. “Where the federal government is affected is in the expansion of the economy, the jobs that are created, corporate income tax and personal income tax," said Sorenson. “We believe sooner or later we will see oil come back.”
Late last year the federal government announced new family tax cuts such as income splitting and enhancement of the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit. Despite these, and the prospect of tough economic times, he still feels a surplus in 2015 is within reach.
“When we went into the downturn, we said we are going to have some deficits and we are going to invest in infrastructure, we are going to keep investing in people and families, but in 2015-2016 we are going to come into surplus. We are still committed to that. We are going to have a balanced budge in 2015-2016, but we aren’t going to cutback on the issues that matter most to Canadians.”
