Battlefords–Lloydminster MP Rosemarie Falk. (File photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Federal budget reaction

Conservative MP says budget needs job creation, while former Liberal candidate pleased with document

Apr 20, 2021 | 2:36 PM

Battlefords-Lloydminster Conservative MP Rosemarie Falk and the riding’s former Liberal candidate Larry Ingram have varying views on the new federal budget just released, but they both agree it has been a difficult past year for the government to weather the pandemic.

Falk told battlefordsNOW she would have liked to see more of a job creation plan in the budget package.

She also hoped there would be more support for agricultural producers.

“When we think about Battlefords–Lloydminster, we have lots of farmers, we have lots of energy workers. And we’re not really seeing anything thus far in the budget in regards to them,” she said. “We need to make sure that we can secure long-term prosperity for all Canadians for generations to come. And just with the spending that’s been announced today, it’s going to be children and grandchildren, and great grandchildren that are going to be burdening this debt.”

Falk said it’s good to see the government is extending the COVID-19 relief aid for those affected with job losses, but she is disappointed there doesn’t appear to be a plan for more economic opportunities for Canadian families.

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Many workers have had their wages cut and hours slashed because economies aren’t open yet, she said, but there isn’t a plan for that.

“This is the first [budget] for two years, right, so that makes it a little more difficult maybe for the government,” she said. “But we’re getting a little bit better of a financial snapshot of where Canada is at.”

Larry Ingram of Turtleford, the former federal Liberal candidate for the Battlefords–Lloydminster, said he is in favour of the budget.

“I’m looking at the budget to some degree now and thinking that it’s a good budget,” he told battlefordsNOW. “I think that if the Opposition Party supports it, then we will be in a good position. I honestly believe that the federal Liberals have done a really good job with the COVID-19, keeping it under control as much as possible.”

As far as support for agriculture in concerned, Ingram says that also requires more response on the provincial levels for risk management program upgrades.

“I’m an hour out of North Battleford and the things I’ve been asked about over the last while have been more related to packages like the AgriStability, which the federal government has proposed to the provincial governments, that they go and do their share of the funding. The provincial governments haven’t been doing that yet,” he said. “So that is one of the things that has been more clear to me. You can’t blame the federal government for it not coming out yet.”

Looking at economic opportunities in the federal budget, Ingram said he believes there is significant job creation right now.

“Especially as we move into the Green Energy ,” he said. “There are a lot of jobs going to be in that, as people decide it’s time we went there and start getting involved in the supporting of it. There will be a lot of jobs manufacturing and actually just repurposing a lot of the vehicles and the equipment to electric.”

On the government’s high debt load and current financial situation, Ingram said the country couldn’t have been able to get through this pandemic as well as it did without the federal Liberal party being in charge in Ottawa, responding to the nation’s needs.

“Everybody is pretty well aware of that we have been able to control the pandemic quite a bit because of the federal Liberal party,” he said. “So I’m quite happy with what this budget is coming out with. I look at it, and I’m supporting it.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW