The federal government released its budget earlier this week with a focus on transitioning from emergency response to recovery as over $101 billion will be investing over the next three years.
Cathay Wagantall, the MP for Yorkton-Melville, said the budget is focusing on the short-term recovery rather than building for the future.
"We are not surprised by the level of spending that this budget is indicating. The theme of this budget is a pro-growth budget, even though the economy is doing better than anyone thought," she said. "The projections are better; the deficits are lower, and yet they're continuing to invest money. They are saying we want to grow the overall share of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). It's really a structural change that we are looking at here, and the question, of course, is whether or not they will get it right.
"The government is saying that with these low-interest rates and this amount of uncertainty, they are going to stimulate the economy anyways," she continued.
As for what this means for people in the Yorkton-Melville area, Wagantall said that more supports are coming to help with the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"There is still that stimulus there for the next while, so for those who have directly lost their jobs or businesses that are struggling and are very concerned, they can still access those funds; however, what I am hearing in the riding more than anything is we really want to stop this on and off of shutting down our businesses, and then reopening, and then shutting down," she said. "What they want is the opportunity to open and function carefully but to be able to run their businesses which is a natural source of economic growth."
Wagantall said that her biggest concern is why it is necessary to spend an extra $100 billion when the economy is improving.
"Did we need to spend this extensively? That's my concern, and it's really hard to determine because there are so many factors that are around COVID that I feel we should have been out of because of what I believe is the poor implementation of the government's response to COVID right from the beginning right through. It has a lag effect that has impacted our economy really severely," she said. "They don't really have any significant tax items in this budget, so where is this money coming from?"
She said the problem isn't with what they are investing in; it's the possible long-term effects and adding to the countries already record amount of total debt.
"What they have done is created a beautiful picture of a lot of spending on good items. Investing in our young people becoming a digital resource to small businesses sounds wonderful, but the challenge is in the details and the rollout and the time frames, and the potential for the economy to shift."
She added that overall she hopes these investments from the latest budget to pay off, but she does know that Canadians will pull through to make the economy bounce back.
