Finance Minister Bill Morneau has tabled his third federal budget on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 which engages the spending of $21.5 billion.

A few highlights are:

• The deficit is projected to be $18.1 billion for 2018-19 to reduce to $12.3 billion in the fiscal year 2022.
• One-third of Canadians need rental housing, yet vacancy rates in Toronto and Vancouver are below 1 percent. Thus increased funding for CMHC’s Rental Construction Financing Initiative was increased to $3.75 billion from $2.5 billion over three years. Hopefully, this will engage new construction of 14,000 housing units across Canada.
• Internet security is a big focus with $750 million to be allocated over five years.
• Another Internet focus will spend $100 million over five years for rural broadband innovation and development which includes the use of satellites.
• When marijuana becomes legal this summer, an excise tax is designed to “keep cannabis out of the hands of youth and profits out of the hands of criminals.” A tax of a dollar per gram of cannabis or 10 percent of the producer price will apply. The federal government will take 25% of that figure (to a max of $100 million), leaving 75% plus surplus going to the provinces.
• $231 million will aim to alleviate the opioid crisis starting with $165 million this year.
• Two-parent families will see five extra weeks leave under the EI Parenting Benefit. The $1.2 billion over a five-year allocation would allow fathers to take parental leave. This would increase EI parental leave to a maximum of 40 weeks in cases where the second parent agrees to take at least five weeks off. The benefit covers 55 percent of the second parent’s income for as much as 12 months. The benefit will offer the same benefit to adoptive same-sex couples eligible June 2019. The percentage of the income during the leave is dependent on a few parameters such as extending the leave time.
• $172.6M more to ensure clean drinking water on reserves.
• Over a period of six years, $1.5 billion is allocated to First Nations Child and Family Services.
• Foreign aid for women under the Feminist International Assistance Policy will see $2 billion to bring in 1,000 vulnerable female refugees.
• To deal with 25,000 sex assault allegations deemed unfounded, over five years an RCMP unit will receive $10 million to review cases.
• $1.3 billion to conserve waterways, land and endangered species over five years.
• $173M will to cover expenses related to the many asylum-seeker border-crossings.
• Independent firms publishing local journalism will receive $50 million.
• $30M spending over three years to promote women and girls’ participation in sport.
• Permanent free admission for kids to national parks.
• Canada is focusing on a new national pharmacare service which they have noted will be assessed.¹ Bill Morneau explained that pharmacare wouldn’t be free for all Canadians. ²
• Because 37,000 Canadians are dying from tobacco-related illness each year plus an additional 100,000 new smokers per year, a pack of 200 will go up a dollar, with other duties bringing the increase over two dollars.

Primary Source: Government of Canada 

For more read the Globe and Mail’s Excellent Synopsis

¹ Tom Cardoso, of The Globe and Mail, noted: “National pharmacare could represent significant savings for both patients and the government. A 2016 Parliamentary Budget Office analysis estimated that of the $28.5-billion spent on prescription drugs in 2015, $24.6-billion would be eligible for coverage under a national pharmacare program and that a true national prescription drug program would cost $20.2-billion. In other words, national pharmacare could represent a savings of roughly $4.2-billion annually, in large part because the consumption of prescription drugs would increase and governments would have a stronger position in price negotiations.”

2 This article by CBC News expands on the pharmacare