Moose Jaw – Lake Centre – Lanigan Member of Parliament Tom Lukiwski says that he is disappointed in the federal budget that was announced on Monday. 

The budget included a $354 billion deficit for last year and the government is expecting a $155 billion deficit in 2021-2022, raising the national debt to over $1 trillion.

Lukiwski said the budget shows that the Liberal government doesn’t have a clear path to a balanced budget or paying down the national debt. 

"I fear that if this spending track continues, God forbid if we should ever have a recession in the next four to five years, but if we do, we'll be in big, big trouble in this country." 

The budget did include some funding for projects within Saskatchewan. VIDO-InterVac in Saskatoon is expected to get $59 million out of the $2.2 billion for Canada's bio-manufacturing and life-sciences sector. 

Even with the announced funding, Lukiwski said it is coming a year too late. 

"It's too late but any money at this point in time is well-received. It's really a matter of getting the money out too late and the same thing with the vaccine rollout. All of the initiatives that the government has seemed to have done over the last 12 to 18 months have been limited and they have been late." 

Meanwhile, a commitment was made to carbon capture and storage, although Lukiwski pointed out that how much the program would be receiving is unknown. 

He also felt that funding for projects in Saskatchewan could have been taken a step further. 

"There were no additional funds for enhanced oil recovery, which would definitely be a benefit and a boon with the carbon capture and storage plan." 

Lukiwski did note that it was positive that the government is going to be continuing the pandemic relief programs such as the rent relief program and wage subsidy program until September.

The budget itself was a robust document over 700 pages long and it was the first budget announced in nearly two years due to the pandemic. 

Lukiwski said it is all very worrisome. 

"We haven't seen one in two years and that's completely unacceptable. Based on that, I guess there is no real surprise that this budget comes in as lengthy as it was since we haven't seen one in a couple of years. Perhaps this government felt that had to make up for the lack of a budget in the last 24 months by verbiage." 

The complete budget can be found here.