No support from Bell for budget
Vancouver Island News Group -- Courtenay Comox Valley Record
March 21, 2007

What political pundits are calling a budget of broad appeal hasn't had its intended effect on Vancouver Island North MP Catherine Bell. From her office in Ottawa following Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's tabled 2007 budge, Bell said Monday simply that it doesn't do enough for working Canadians.

"There's a very large surplus and this government could have used it to close the prosperity gap, but they failed," said Bell about the Conservative government's budget.

Included in that budget were tax credits for childcare costs, funds to help people get off social assistance, and incentive plans for fuel-efficient vehicles. There are also increases to field operations allowances for troops, and improvements to national farm income programs, according to the website, http://www.budget.gc.ca/2007.

"This budget is about helping families. It is also about achieving our country's full potential and showing a modern, ambitious and energetic Canada to the world," said Flaherty in the House of Commons.

Bell said it does nothing to look at the basic needs of most Canadians, for example, by lowering pharmacare costs, assisting with affordable housing or helping to address education fees. The child-care return she said, which would see people save roughly $310 per child, per year, is just throwing money at a deeper problem.

"This does nothing to create much needed child-care spaces," said Bell. Those issues may be due to a deeper motivation, said Bell, who suggested the budget would appeal to voters if a failed confidence vote for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority government sends Canadians into another federal election....

"We can't support this budget the way it is."