The Conservative MP for Huron-Bruce says — outside of pandemic spending — there is little in the 2021 federal budget for rural Ontario.
The budget from Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland calls for 100-billion dollars in additional spending, including wage and rent subsidies for laid-off workers extended into September.
The fiscal plan also proposes $10 a day child care by 2026, and the ability for Canada to produce its own vaccines.
Conservative MP Ben Lobb says the extension of subsidies and payments for workers laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic is something he supports, but other policy points missed the mark.
Lobb points to a lack of increases in federal health transfers to provinces, a criticism also made by Ontario Finance Minister, Peter Bethlenfalvy.
Few details have surfaced about the impact Canada’s 2021 budget will have on the agricultural sector, something Lobb says has been missing from Liberal budgets for several years.
“There is a component of the budget that talks about carbon sequestration,” Lobb says.
“The obvious one to myself… our crops are our number one carbon sequestere.”
Rules around foreign investors in home property is something Lobb feels could become problematic in Huron and Bruce counties, specifically for U-S property owners who frequent the region.
Under the federal plan, a one per cent tax on the value of the home would be applied to any non-Canadian citizen or permanent resident deemed to have a vacant or underutilized home.
Lobb hopes the rule does not alienate seasonal residents of Huron-Bruce, who contribute to the local economy.