Federal budget attracts mixed reactions

PRINCE GEORGE — Yesterday, the federal government released the 2023 federal budget and so far there has been lots of attention on its contents.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland revealed the government’s 2023 budget in the House of Commons yesterday. Highlights of the budget include a major investment in dental care and a grocery rebate. What has also garnered attention is the 40 billion federal deficit for the coming fiscal year.

Other staples of the budget include an expected cost of 83 billion for tax credits for clean energy and electricity, as well as 2.5 billion for the doubling of GST rebates to help low-income Canadians who are struggling with high prices and inflation. The provincial government expressed it’s disappointment that more money wasn’t alloted for housing. 4 billion dollars is what the federal government is planning to spend over seven years on an urban, rural and northern Indigenous housing strategy, beginning in 2024-25, but only 1.9 billion is expected to be spent in the next 5 years.