Sopuck Disappointed with Liberal Budget

Ottawa, ON – Robert Sopuck, Member of Parliament for Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa, was disappointed, but not surprised, by the enormity of the forecasted deficit in Justin Trudeau’s Liberals’ 2016 Budget tabled today.

“During the election campaign, I regularly heard concerns about the Liberals plan to run deficits, and that was when they promised it would only be $10 billion a year,” said Sopuck. “It certainly didn’t take them long to break that promise to Canadians, as is evident by their deficit projection of nearly $30 billion this year alone.”

On Tuesday March 22nd, the Liberals introduced their 2016 federal budget. The Budget confirms that the Liberals are raising taxes on families, youth and small businesses. Despite spending nearly $30 billion in borrowed money, the Liberal budget has no clear plan to help get unemployed Canadians back to work.

“They also clearly don’t have any plan to return to balanced budgets during their mandate as they promised during the election. Let’s just hope it doesn’t balloon into even more than they project like we have seen happen with the NDP here in Manitoba,” commented Sopuck.

More than 100,000 Canadians from across the country are out of work in the oil and gas industry alone. Canada`s unemployment rate has increased for three consecutive months, despite the Liberal Government spending billions of dollars during the same time period.

“What really disappointed me about the Liberals first budget was the lack of emphasis on rural Canada. Out of a 271 page budget, agriculture is discussed for three paragraphs,” stated Sopuck. “The Liberal Party seems to have forgotten, or worse ignored, that our agricultural sector feeds and fuels this country, and makes up for nearly 10% of our GDP. I will be working hard to stand up for rural Canada, and ensure the Liberals don’t continue to ignore rural Manitobans throughout their mandate,” concluded Sopuck.

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