The newly-released federal budget is getting mixed reactions.
Local Members of Parliament are all smiles about the Trudeau Liberals’ spending for this year.
Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Don Rusnak notes that he’s happy to see a $10 million increase in FedNor’s budget, making the second year in a row that the economic development fund has gotten a bigger budget.
“It’s really key in building the economy,” Rusnak notes, pointing out that we can expect to see more support through FedNor for projects to grow our economy, and less of its budget spent on infrastructure.
He also approves of a total of $5 billion to help First Nations, including nearly $1.5 billion for child services.
Meanwhile, MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North and federal Labour Minister Patty Hajdu is also zeroing in on funding for Indigenous people and communities.
She notes that “Indigenous communities across Canada have called for” the $2 billion Indigenous Skills Education Training Fund, to help Indigenous people get good jobs.
As the former Status of Women Minister, Hajdu is glad to see more measures for gender equality, like equal pay for all federal employees.
She adds that our region will also benefit from investments for high-speed internet in rural communities.
However, Thunder Bay’s Chamber of Commerce has some criticisms of the federal government’s spending decisions.
President Charla Robinson tells us that she appreciates investments like money to support female entrepreneurs, support for skills development, innovation, and the funding for rural broadband internet.
However, overall she’s not excited by this budget.
“There doesn’t really seem to be a lot of focus on things that would actually grow the economy,” Robinson argues.
She feels Thunder Bay won’t see a lot of benefits from the 2018 budget. (File Photo)
