The 2024-2025 federal budget was announced on Tuesday, showing a projected deficit of $39.8 billion. 

MP for Moose Jaw – Lake Centre – Lanigan, Fraser Tolmie, said the budget furthers the consistent overspending of the federal government. “Again this year, another $40 billion deficit, which is going to be added to our national debt, which is passed down to the taxpayer.” 

The federal government’s housing plans look to build a net of 2 million new homes by 2031 on top of those already expected to be constructed. “What they have overlooked is the importance of necessary infrastructure that is required to build housing,” said Tolmie.  

“You have to have a strong foundation, which requires water, sewer, roads, power – everything necessary for a house to operate.” 

The federal government has announced the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund, providing $6 billion over 10 years for water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure.  

Tolmie was asked to comment on the introduction of the 30-year mortgages, which aim to bring down monthly mortgage payments for first time home buyers. “It’s again showing that it’s more difficult for people to buy homes.” 

He also commented on the Home Buyers’ Plan withdrawal limit being increased from $35,000 to $60,000. “There’s people still living in their parents’ basements, and they need to save up, and now they’re going to be using their RRSPs, and it’s going to take a longer time on the back end to pay that back.” 

The federal budget provided information on the national pharmacare program, which is expected to allocate $1.5 billion over five years starting in 2024-2025. The first phase aims at covering contraceptives and diabetes care.  

“We’ve never seen anything that they’ve rolled out work, and so when they can prove those numbers, we’ll be interested to see, but so far, everything’s been a flop,” said Tolmie.  

Tolmie was asked what the Conservatives would be undertaking if they were in charge of the budget. “We would obviously be looking to balance the budget, and that’s going to be a huge challenge to overcome with the amount of debt this liberal government has put us in after 9 years, and nine years of rolling out budgets that are continually in deficits. You can’t spend your way out of debt.”