When West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP Blair Wilson visited the Sunshine Coast earlier this month he identified a lack of affordable housing and childcare to be major problems facing the Coast. Unfortunately, said Wilson, Monday's federal budget isn't going to help the community, specifically in regards to child care, adding that the budget lacks a clear direction. "[The federal budget] was almost non-existent in respect to affordable housing and child care," Wilson said in an interview with Coast Reporter Tuesday afternoon.
The Conservative government has introduced a $2,000 child tax credit, which, depending on family income, will provide up to $310 per child of tax relief. Wilson says this is not enough; that with 70 per cent of families dependent on a double income, child care is a necessity. The tax credit, says Wilson, is not going to help the people in most need of assistance. "With the child care credit you have to be bringing in an income in order to benefit from this tax credit - people on welfare won't see a penny," Wilson said.
With a $9.2 billion surplus, Wilson says, the government should be doing more to help families. Wilson did not go into an in-depth discussion about affordable housing, as it was not directly addressed in the budget. However, he did say he was disappointed to see the government did not do more to address national poverty, specifically child poverty.
The mountain pine beetle was another issue Wilson brought up, saying Stephen Harper promised, in his run for office in 2005, that he would allocate $1 billion to address the epidemic threat to Canada's forests. Wilson pointed out Harper has failed to keep his promise, setting aside $4 million over two years in the 2006 budget but failing to increase funding this year. "He is still $6 million short," Wilson said. The Conservative government spent $223 billion on this year's budget and, according to Wilson, the lack of direction is disappointing. "They could have focused on climate change, health care, child poverty or a number of other issues no government in the history of the country has spent more money and accomplished so little," Wilson added.
