LIBERALS INTRODUCE HUGE DEFICIT WITH NO PLAN TO CREATE JOBS

Ottawa, ON - Today, Prime Minister Trudeau and his Liberal Government introduced their first budget that involves massive borrowing, and spending tens of billions of taxpayer dollars. Lakeland Member of Parliament Shannon Stubbs is concerned about tax hikes on hard-working families, workers and job-creating businesses. The reckless Liberal plan simply grows the size of government and will do nothing to actually create much-needed jobs for out of work Albertans.

“When it comes to spending taxpayer money, the Liberals just can’t help themselves,” said M.P. Stubbs. “Their spending spree budget doesn’t have a jobs plan and continues to ignore Canada’s natural resources and agriculture sectors, in addition to farming and rural regions. My constituents have been very clear: they want to get back to work, they don’t just want handouts.”

The 2016 Budget confirms that the Liberals are raising taxes on families, youth and small businesses. Despite spending three times more than promised in borrowed money, they have no plan to help unemployed workers in many sectors across the country, including those in Alberta.

“While Conservatives support some measures in the budget, such as loosening Employment Insurance eligibility for hard-hit regions of the country, this doesn’t help unemployed workers immediately and it certainly doesn’t help all of them,” said M.P. Stubbs. She continued, "instead of delivering a real plan to create jobs, the Liberals are handing money from one politician to another, raising taxes on businesses, and driving jobs and investment away. Businesses can’t create jobs if the government causes uncertainty and increases costs."

More than 100,000 Canadians from across the country are out of work in the oil and gas industry. Canada’s unemployment rate has increased for three consecutive months, despite the Liberal Government spending billions of dollars during the same time period. Alberta’s unemployment is higher than Quebec’s for the first time in nearly thirty years. In January alone, Alberta lost 22,000 full time jobs.

“The Conservatives left the Liberal Government with a $3 billion surplus. The previous government focused on keeping taxes low and supporting policies that helped create more than a million jobs. Conservatives know how to foster job creation and economic growth: low taxes, free trade and spending taxpayer money responsibly. The Liberals are just passing on years of debt to our future generations. Those aren’t the kinds of ‘decisions for the future’ that this country needs.”