TORONTO – The federal Conservatives have support for their budget from a variety of sources. There are supportive messages coming in from labour, Assembly of First Nations, and the mining sector. The Canadian Olympic Association and the Nature Conservatory are also supportive.
AFN National Chief Atleo is giving the Conservatives support, although cautious over the moves toward funding education. “While education is a priority because it is a foundation to build healthy and thriving First Nations communities, we know we need to do much more to create safe and secure communities for all our citizens regardless of where they reside,” said National Chief Atleo. “The investments in areas to improve First Nations infrastructure, disaster mitigation, connectivity and others are a start but we need a more concerted effort based on First Nations direction. This will reduce costs in the short and long-term. As well, we continue to call for specific action to end violence against First Nations women and girls and action to deal with the tragedy of missing and murdered women and girls.”
Mining Association Support
The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) are congratulating the Government of Canada on its Economic Action Plan 2014 that includes specific supports for the mineral exploration and development sector.
PDAC states, “The 2014 Budget includes a number of key initiatives designed to stimulate economic growth in some of Canada’s most northern and remote communities. Economic Action Plan 2014 proposes to extend the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC), continues to support northern development by working with territorial governments and local municipalities to develop transportation infrastructure in the North, and provides $40 million over two years to renew the Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development program delivered by the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. The Government’s extension of the 15 per cent tax credit for an additional year will help to stimulate exploration across Canada”.
“Today’s commitment from the Government, and especially Minister Flaherty, demonstrates continued support for growth and investment in the exploration sector,” says Glenn Nolan, PDAC’s President. “The METC and northern development remain vital to the exploration industry in Canada as it helps to keep jobs and investment in Canada, and ensures our competitive position globally.”
PDAC also supports and looks forward to working with the Government on northern infrastructure, northern regulatory improvement, and northern economic development to help expand the transportation, energy and community infrastructure necessary to support resource development in northern and remote regions.
Building & Construction Trades
There is support from labour too. “After years of being a mere add-on to post-secondary education, apprenticeship is being noticed by our Federal Government” said Robert Blakely the Canadian Operating office of the Building Trades in Ottawa. “The way apprentices are being treated has changed and they are now, thanks to measures introduced in the this 2014 Budget, treated more like their colleagues in college and university training.”
In a media statement issued today, the Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO comment, “The Canada’s Building Trades Unions are very pleased with a number of the measures in the Federal Budget that support growth and development of a future focused construction workforce. Creating highly skilled and well-paying jobs is in the national interest”.
The measures that are particularly important to Canada’s Building Trades Unions include the re-affirmation of the Canada Jobs Grant, the new Canadian Apprentice Loan, the employer EI top-up to apprentices in technical training and the Flexible Apprenticeship delivery pilot (FIATT).
Fred Clare, the International Vice President of the Heat & Frost Insulators said “Our apprentice workers are generally older than the average student and they have family obligations, these measures will let skilled workers take the training with less hardship to the family and will allow them access to better ways to access training.”
Canadian Olympic Committee
The Canadian Olympic Committee congratulated the Harper Government for his continued support of athletes, coaches and National Sports Federations through the permanent implementation of annual financing included in the 2014 Budget.
“The Harper Government demonstrated its leadership once again by making a strong and permanent commitment to High Performance sport. By continuing to do whatever is necessary for our athletes, the Government showed its dedication to help them reach the podium, and underlined the unifying influence of sport” said Marcel Aubut, President of the Canadian Olympic Committee. “We now have a long-term guaranteed base level of funding to allow us to be competitive against the best in the world. On behalf of the Olympic movement in Canada, I want to personally thank the Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty, and Minister of State (Sport) Bal Gosal, for their commitment to sport in Canada.”
Nature Conservancy of Canada
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) today applauds the federal government for its continued commitment to Canada’s natural heritage contained in today’s budget.
The budget, tabled today by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, contains measures that will protect ecologically sensitive land, conserve recreational fisheries and support family-oriented conservation.
We look forward to the implementation of the new National Conservation Plan, soon to be introduced, that will continue to connect Canadians to nature. The Government of Canada has a strong track record of preserving biodiversity in Canada and has allocated significant resources, towards this goal. We believe this important framework will support and enhance our work to conserve our nation’s rich biodiversity.
NCC is also pleased to see changes to tax provisions for land donations. The carry-forward period for donations of ecologically-sensitive land will double from five to ten years. This is a significant incentive to encourage private landowners to donate to organizations such as the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
