By Angela Hill

NDP candidate calls budget promises without substance

Mar 23, 2011 | 12:21 PM

Prince Albert NDP candidate Valerie Mushinski is calling the federal budget an election budget instead of one that looks at issues.

“He put a budget out that was more of an election budget than a serious budget as far as issues,” she said.

“It’s a sprinkling of crumbs to appease various different groups, but quite frankly I think most Canadians understand that a budget has to be substantive.”

She uses the issues and shortages in Prince Albert and across Canada around family health professionals as an example.

“I work on a committee in Nipawin (where) that’s an issue for us in terms of recruitment and retention of doctors and communities feel it,” Mushinski said.

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“By giving token funding to offset loans is not getting more practitioners to our area. Certainly, that’s helpful to those professionals, but it really isn’t addressing the problems. So it’s a half measure which really avails none of us.”

The Harper government set a budget that was not going to be acceptable, Mushinski said.

“There’s a strong possibility of an election, but Jack Layton has said the door is open for amendments,” she said.

In particular Mushinski said she is frustrated about the contempt of parliament issues.

“We take it seriously and we know democracy can be eroded very, very easily. We’re on a slippery slope, we cannot have a minority government that simply thinks that whatever they want to do they can do and opposition has no right to question it.”

Since the budget was tabled in Parliament yesterday, Mushinski said she’s heard from a number of people in the Prince Albert riding and they are not happy.

See Related:
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Federal Budget 2011

ahill@panow.com