Lake Simcoe is going to benefit from federal budget
Lake Simcoe By Bill Rea

Last Monday's federal budget proclaimed to have something for just about everyone, and that was enough to put smiles on the faces of local Conservative politicians.

York - Simcoe MP Peter Van Loan was delighted with what Finance Minister Jim Flaherty came up with, especially in terms of the environment.

The budget announced an allocation of $12 million over two years to restore and protect the environment of Lake Simcoe.

"I've worked long and hard to achieve that," he remarked. "That will make a big difference to improving the health on the lake."

"I am very pleased that the government has delivered on a commitment I made to work to protect Lake Simcoe's environment," he added. "After years of inadequate funding, Canada's new government is taking action to improve the water we drink, clean polluted waters, protect our ecosystems and ensure the sustainability of our fish resources."

The announcement was not a surprise to Van Loan. He said the move had the support of his caucus colleagues around the Lake Simcoe watershed. "We made our case to the finance minister that this was important, and he agreed," he said.

He also stated this federal commitment is "exponentially huge," pointing out the combined contributions from local municipalities, Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority and the Province amounts to a little more than $1 million. He expressed the hope that the Provincial government would make a similar commitment to Lake Simcoe in its budget, due to come down tomorrow (Thursday).

There were other things about the budget Van Loan was pleased about, including a $9.2 billion surplus from the 2006 fiscal year, which is going to be going to pay down the national debt, and he said the surplus could turn out to be larger. "That's done through good fiscal management," he remarked.

He also pointed to the government's tax back guarantee, which means as the debt reduction decreases the amount of interest payments, that money is used to reduce taxes.

As well, Van Loan pointed happily to the establishment of a Canadian Heritage Sports Fund, to help support such activities as three-down football and lacrosse. These sports are very important to the Canadian identity, he commented, pointing out they are easily overshadowed by Olympic sports. He added work on that fund started a couple of months ago, during the brief period he was the minister responsible for sport.

Van Loan was hard pressed to find fault with the budget. "I thought it was a wonderful budget," he remarked.

The latest reports indicate it's going to get through the House of Commons, with the support of the Bloc Quebecois.

Van Loan observed that support should be sufficient "mathematically," although he expects there will be proposed amendments and other motions that could mean surprises.

"We're not out of the woods yet," he declared.

"This is a very good budget that the opposition will find difficult to oppose," he added.

York North MPP Julia Munro, who will be running

the Progressive Conservatives in York - Simcoe in the next provincial election, was also pleased, especially in terms

the impact on the relationship between the feds and the provinces, calling it the "cornerstone"

the budget.

The budget includes some $39 billion over seven years to address the fiscal imbalance, with almost $4 billion this year going to provinces and territories.

Munro pointed out the federal government has been dipping into what has constitutionally been regarded as essentially provincial issues for some years. "This budget tries to modernize and re-address the historic relationship between provinces and transfer payments," she remarked, adding the provinces will be getting money, but they will also be obliged to be responsible and accountable with it. "I think that's appropriate."

Munro was also pleased to see the national debt being cut, pointing out many Canadians don't realize that will free up dollars that would have gone toward interest payments. She had read that will amount to about $1 billion, "a pretty substantial return on your money."

Liberals were having trouble sharing the Conservative enthusiasm, although Vaughan - King - Aurora MPP (and Ontario Finance Minister) Greg Sorbara was quoted Tuesday morning as saying,

there are a number of real positives for Ontario."

"We've made some significant progress," he added a couple of days later.

Oak Ridges - Markham MP Lui Temelkovski applauded the establishment of a national mental health commission, calling it "a step in the right direction," but that was about it when it came to the positives he could find.

"The rest of it was just sprinkled all over the place," he commented. "I didn't see it having a focus."

Temelkovski observed the Conservatives have maintained previous Liberal governments had been able to run surpluses by overtaxing. But Flaherty has announced increased spending without cutting taxes. "They're going to have a lot of money and they're going to spend a lot," he remarked.

He also said the Liberals are not going to support the budget, but was pleased that the government won't fall as a result. "Canadians do not want an election right now, and we're listening to Canadians," he said.