{"id":73503,"date":"2017-03-08T03:55:25","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T03:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/?p=73503"},"modified":"2017-03-08T03:55:25","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T03:55:25","slug":"bill-morneau-planning-cautious-budget-for-march-22-as-he-waits-on-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/bill-morneau-planning-cautious-budget-for-march-22-as-he-waits-on-trump.html","title":{"rendered":"Bill Morneau planning cautious budget for March 22 as he waits on Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span>Bill Morneau&#8217;s second budget will be short on new spending and will include what amounts to a &#8220;down payment on the innovation agenda,&#8221; as the finance minister takes a wait-and-see approach over the uncertainty surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s economic agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A senior government source said\u00a0this budget will\u00a0set the stage for what could effectively be a two budget year, with a significant fall fiscal update that would be able to factor in the full implications of the coming U.S. budget.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Morneau announced in the House of Commons today that he will deliver his budget on March 22. The expectation was that it would be a so-called &#8220;innovation budget&#8221; \u00a0\u2014 outlining the beginnings of a plan to re-engineer the Canadian economy \u2014 but government officials have been keen to tamp down those expectations in recent weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We want to move forward on our agenda and continue to be ambitious in helping Canadians,&#8221; Morneau said in the foyer of the House of Commons, adding that he is &#8220;confident&#8221; he can do that while remaining fiscally responsible.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We know that the measures we put in place in Budget 2016 made a real difference for middle class Canadians, we can continue that going forward,&#8221; he said. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><span>What your tax breaks cost on the government books<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><span>5 reasons you won&#8217;t get kid&#8217;s fitness tax credits in 2017<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><span>HALL: <\/span><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><span>Plenty of budget remedies offered\u00a0for economy<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>Trump&#8217;s promise of massive personal and corporate tax cuts, as well as a trillion dollars in infrastructure spending, is a key factor in this &#8220;prudent&#8221; approach, the government source said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But finance officials are also worried about the downside risk presented by low Canadian economic growth and continued global economic uncertainty. There is also a distinct lack of fiscal room for new spending due to the government&#8217;s earlier decision to enrich child benefit programs and spend big on infrastructure. <\/span><\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/78e30_trump.jpg\" alt=\"Trump\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">U.S. President Donald Trump, seen during a meeting on the U.S. federal budget at the White House in February, promised huge tax cuts and massive infrastructure spending, which could have an impact on the Canadian economy &#8211; and on Liberal budget decisions. (Evan Vucci\/Associated Press)<\/p>\n<p><span>The budget will include new spending in some key areas of the innovation agenda \u2014 notably in skills development and training for workers, as well as talent recruitment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But it will focus heavily on providing specifics on the billions in spending announced in the Trudeau government&#8217;s first budget last year, rather than rolling out a large suite of new programs.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span>Budget 2017 to clarify budget 2016<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span>One area that will be fleshed out will be the $800-million strategy to support what the government calls &#8220;innovation networks and clusters.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That money was supposed to be spent as $200 million a year over four years, but not a dime has gone out so far. Budget 2017 will detail how some of that money will be spent as well as providing greater specifics on the $186 billion in infrastructure spending the government has promised over the coming decade.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Morneau is taking this cautious tack despite better than expected growth numbers in the fourth quarter of last year and a number of other factors that are likely to have a positive impact on the economy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For all of the uncertainty surrounding Trump, his economic plan is expected to jolt the U.S. economy \u2014 at least in the short term \u2014 and lift the Canadian economy with it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Oil is now trading above $50 a barrel, compared to the low $30-range a year ago. If it can break through the $60 mark and stay there, Alberta could see a sharp turnaround in its economic fortunes and add billions to federal revenues. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But Morneau has opted to pace himself. And instead of delivering the definitive innovation budget that industry players were hoping for, a government official said\u00a0there will be components of the innovation strategy sprinkled through each budget of this mandate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/78e30_question-period-20170307.jpg\" alt=\"Question Period 20170307\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">Bill Morneau announced the spring budget date in the House Tuesday. But Morneau is effectively planning a budget in two parts, with a beefed up fall fiscal update to respond to measures in Donald Trump&#8217;s first budget. (Sean Kilpatrick\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n<h2>Keeping promises<\/h2>\n<p>The Conservative finance critic said his party wants to see three things in the budget: no new taxes, no new actions\u00a0that would impact seniors negatively and a plan\u00a0to get the budget back into balance.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re asking the government to get spending under control again, we&#8217;re asking the government\u00a0not to touch tax credits or increase taxes on Canadians,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>G\u00e9rard Deltell said\u00a0he also wants to see some measures that will help Canada remain competitive with whatever the Trump administration has planned for the economy south of the border. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>NDP leader Tom Mulcair\u00a0said he wants to see the Liberals keep campaign promises to close loopholes that allow white-collar criminals and millionaires escape the harshest penalties for tax evasion, and to act on issues facing First Nations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Defence spending pushed to fall<\/h2>\n<p><span>The budget will also be short on spending in key areas, such as defence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A government official said\u00a0the recommendations from the defence policy review won&#8217;t be ready in time for inclusion in the budget. Instead defence plans will be revealed later in the year \u2014 most likely in the fall update, which could grow into a de facto mini-budget.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One other outstanding issue the federal government is trying to finalize by budget day is the health accord deals the Liberals have yet to sign\u00a0with four holdout provinces:\u00a0Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Manitoba, who\u00a0have so far refused to sign on to the government&#8217;s offer for additional targeted health funding.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The government official expressed optimism that deals could be reached with several of those provinces by budget day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Article source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/morneau-budget-trump-march-1.4013632?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bill Morneau&#8217;s second budget will be short on new spending and will include what amounts to a &#8220;down payment on the innovation agenda,&#8221; as the finance minister takes a wait-and-see approach over the uncertainty surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s economic agenda. A senior government source said\u00a0this budget will\u00a0set the stage for what could effectively be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-73503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}