Conservative vote against budget is vote against 'fairness': Trudeau

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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing the Conservatives of siding with “multi-millionaires” and defying fairness in their decision not to support the federal budget.

The Liberals' latest spending plan, tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday, aims to force corporations and wealthy individuals to pay more taxes on capital gains.

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Conservative leader Pierre Poillevre called it a “wasteful, inflationary budget” and said his party would vote against it.

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At a Liberal caucus meeting Wednesday morning, Trudeau said it was wrong to ask multi-millionaires to pay less tax on capital gains than a teacher or electrician would pay on their income.

He said the change would not affect 99.87 percent of the population at all and would not involve the sale of anyone's primary residence.

He did not mention the New Democrats or leader Jagmeet Singh, who have yet to pledge support for the budget despite a delivery and confidence deal with the Liberals.

The budget includes several NDP priorities, including Phase One funding for national pharmacare and federal standards for long-term care.

Bloc Québécois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet also said his headquarters did not support the budget.

That means if the NDP breaks the deal, the budget will fail, potentially triggering an election.

Singh said he wants to talk to Trudeau about what's missing from the budget, including any unexpected taxes on excess profits for corporations.

He also said he believed the Conservatives would eliminate important programs, including national child care and pharmacare, if they form a government.

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Conservative housing critic Scott Aitchison said people shouldn't believe the Liberals' plan will ever come to fruition because they've promised a housing overhaul in the past and it never happened.

“In 2017, Justin Trudeau stood before a major construction project with many hardworking Canadians behind him and promised a life-changing National Housing Strategy,” said Aitchison.

“We're seeing a transformation: house prices have doubled, rents have doubled, mortgages have doubled, and people can't afford to put food on the table and pay rent.”

Aitchison says the housing issue is one the government needs to get out of the way.

But Trudeau said it's the Conservatives who are trying to stop progress.

“They will vote against justice,” he said. “They will vote against asking the ultra-rich to pay their share. Canadians need responsible leadership right now – leaders who come to them with solutions that are willing to invest in the ideas of Canadians.”

The budget boosted spending to more than $530 billion for 2024-25, with more than $11 billion in new spending focused mostly on housing, student aid and grants, as well as pharmaceuticals and finally funding long-promised disability benefits.

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At $200 a month, this discount is just shy of what attorneys want to see.

The budget is an attempt by the government to appeal to millennials and Gen-Z voters, who once strongly supported the Liberals but have been hit harder by the affordability crisis and turned more to the Conservatives.

Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland are touting the budget as a plan for fairness for young Canadians.

People asking to pay more “are among those who have benefited from the economy, and they are far from everyone else, especially young people,” Trudeau said.

“That's why we're asking them to pay their fair share so that younger generation Xers, boomers and other generations can have the opportunities they have when they start their lives.”

The capital gains tax is expected to raise $19 billion over five years by increasing the portion of capital gains that is taxable from 50 percent to 66 percent.

The changes will apply to all corporations and trusts, as well as individuals with capital gains of more than $250,000 per year.

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