Guest Commentary by

Jasbir Sandhu

NDP MP for Surrey North

 

The Conservatives have not delivered on many of their promises in the 2013 Budget.

“Although the Budget claims to be focused on job creation and skills development, in reality it does not adequately address these issues. Politics continues to be a shell-game for this Conservative government; they forget that these are the lives of real people.

The Federal Budget proposes the development of the Canada Jobs Grant program, which has not been negotiated with the provinces or the businesses that will be required to contribute matching funds. 

It is unclear when these negotiations will take place, pushing students’ needs further into the future. The Conservatives have again failed to consult those who will be directly affected by this shift, from the current program being delivered in the provinces to this so-called “new” program.

The Budget also does not address the inadequate system for Foreign Credential Accreditation. Without accreditation of their credentials, skilled workers cannot contribute to the Canadian economy. 

Professionals, such as doctors, engineers, nurse and other professionals cannot participate in the job market, even though there are vacancies in these fields. 

Instead of recognizing the value of these workers, the Conservative government is playing political games that result in no tangible efforts and no actual funding.

With one of the slowest job creation rates in Canada, unemployment in British Columbia is growing. The disappointing loss of funding for social programs, the cuts to infrastructure funding, the inadequate support for development of sustainable technology and the reduction in funding to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans will all result in job losses. As well, by raising the age of eligibility for the OAS (Old Age Security)  and forcing seniors to work longer, jobs that would have been released back into the market continue to be unavailable. The intersection of all these problems, along with recent job losses in the British Columbia construction industry and social service sectors, will accumulate into a considerable number of unemployed persons in British Columbia.

The 2013 budget claims to focus on reducing Canada's deficit and the developing economy. The Conservatives' record on the deficit is very clear. They have not produced a single budget surplus since they formed government seven years ago and yet they call themselves competent economic managers. Their record indicates that they have mismanaged our economy. I would call this incompetence on behalf of the government. Who will pay for the Conservative mismanagement of deficits and our economy? The very young people who are overburdened with student loans under the government will be paying for this mismanagement over the years to come. Under the current government, Canadians have the highest debt load. There will now be an additional load put on them by the government due to large deficits over the years to come.

On the one hand, the Conservatives are producing deficit after deficit to be paid by future generations. 

However, on the other hand, the Conservatives have been giving billions of dollars of tax breaks to their friends and insiders. 

 Canadians will not forget this in 2015 when the next election is called.  – compiled from Jasbir Sandhu’s speech in Parliament