it's a weird budget, from what i can tell.

one would think that the liberals should value the votes of young urban professionals. so, why are they doing away with a tax credit for people using public transit? why don't they throw away tax credits for rural farmers, instead?

worse, people that have been building a list of reasons that the liberals are hypocrites on climate change will correctly point to this as another point of hypocrisy.

nor is the government to be expected to save a significant amount of money by taking away the tax credit. it's a rather obvious ideological slap in the face for their own supporters.

but, i suppose you might hear a dim applause somewhere in calgary?

it's simply hard to make sense of the intent.

likewise, it's hard to see what the purpose of raising taxes on alcohol by a few cents a bottle is, other than to take the legislation to church with. it is neither raising any kind of income, nor is it acting as any kind of disincentive. it just seems like an ideological attempt to lure in right-wing voters with literal crumbs.

as an aside, i think that this is the last piece of evidence required to declare marijuana legalization permanently dead. they're purposefully targeting the religious right, with no discernible logic in fiscal or social policy.

the elimination of the canada savings bond is also obviously ideological. i'm old enough to remember my grandmother explaining to me why it was important to hold debt in the hands of private citizens, rather than let it accumulate in the hands of banks. i can't claim that i disagree with her, but i realize that nobody buys the things. still: why shut it down altogether? see, a part of the reason that the green infrastructure bank that existed in the platform was interesting to me was that it was about public rather than private financing. it seems that this part of the plan has been jettisoned, and that whatever infrastructure gets built is going to be done with a "private-public partnership", meaning it's going to function as a revenue stream to large institutions, many of them dominated by foreigners. shutting down the canada savings bonds is maybe symbolic at this point, but it is consistent with the government's move towards a neo-liberal model of infrastructure financing and indicative of this government's broader interests in working for it's high capital benefactors. we will regret this, in the long run. but, we'll regret not buying into the debt, too - this is the end of a process, not the start of one. regardless, it is another shift to the right.

they're also earmarking large amounts of money to give away to capitalists under various schemes, but one expects that, as it is the very purpose of a bourgeois parliament. but, i don't see anything in the budget that will lead to economic diversification, or open up new sectors.

likewise, this "child care" money is just corporate welfare. there's nothing in the budget about changing the way the system operates, there's just a lot of handouts to capital.

we'll have to see whether any of the money for social housing gets spent, or if it gets spent usefully. you'll excuse me for being cynical.

but, my takeaway is that this is a weird document, with confusing priorities. the very little that it actually does seems designed to piss off their own voters, and try and generate support from the religious right.