Rachel Blaney is largely unimpressed with the federal government’s fall economic update.
The North Island-Powell River MP says the biggest problem is what wasn’t in it, such as a plan to deal with precarious work, senior poverty, expanding access to regular employment insurance benefits, or a national pharmacare program.
She added that a national pharmacare program would not only help Canadians but also save the country $4 billion a year. The Trudeau government recently voted down an NDP motion to start the work on such a plan.
She also took issue with the Liberals not closing corporate tax loopholes and instead going after small business owners as well as the government pressing forward its infrastructure privatization bank which she says allows already wealthy investors to get richer while everyday Canadians foot the bill.
Blaney said she did like a couple of things about the update, like the increase to the Working Income Tax Benefit. In Tuesday’s update the Liberals announced a smaller-than-expected deficit and a GDP growth projection of 3.1 per cent.
