Tri-City voters could be heading to the polls a little sooner than expected after all three federal opposition parties said they would reject the budget tabled by the Conservative government.
"It looks like it," Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam MP James Moore told The Tri-City News Tuesday after the budget was tabled. "The budget is a matter of confidence and all three opposition parties are against it."
Moore said he was disappointed with the opposition for not supporting a budget he believes will benefit many Tri-City constituents.
Under the fiscal plan, he said, seniors would receive an enhanced guaranteed income supplement, which many people use to top up their old-age-security payments. The government also offered a benefit that would top-up single seniors benefits by $600 annually, or $840 for couples.
"When you think about how dramatically the cost of living has increased in the Tri-Cities, it is very expensive to live where we live," he said. "We want to help seniors with that."
Moore said the budget would also forgive student loan repayments for doctors who started their careers in rural parts of the country. An $850-million home retrofit grant program was also included, as was a tax credit for parents who sign their kids up for art and music programs.
In the event that an election is triggered, Moore said planks in the Conservative platform would likely centre around the goals of the tabled budget.
"The budget is what we want to do and what we are doing is working," he said. "These are our priorities."
However, not all MPs believe the budget is good for Canada. New Westminster-Coquitlam NDP MP Fin Donnelly said it is the Stephen Harper government's inability to listen to the opposition parties that will likely send voters back to the polls.
In meetings between the Tories and the NDP, Donnelly said party leader Jack Layton made it clear to Prime Minister Harper what New Democrats wanted to see in the budget. Those demands, including increased funding for affordable housing and more action on the environment, were not met, he said.
"It just fails on so many accounts," Donnelly said. "This isn't a budget that we can support."
If the Tories are willing to reconsider some of the initiatives outlined in the budget, Donnelly said it is possible Canadians' date with the ballot box could be postponed.
He added that while there are a few positives in the budget, the majority of Canadians do not benefit from the document the Tories presented, and added that voters have lost faith in the government and do not trust the prime minister
"There are millions of Canadians living in poverty," he said. "Small gestures are not going to make a difference... There might be some positives for some Canadians but there are too many Canadians that are being left out in the cold. "
