Bloc Québécois support Canadian budget, Liberals, NDP oppose

March 20, 2007

The Bloc Québécois backed Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's second budget yesterday, which means that there will be no federal election yet.

"Having said that, there's money on the table [for Quebec]," bloc leader Gilles Duceppe said, "so we'll take that money."

However, the opposition Liberals and NDP did not back the budget. NDP Leader Jack Layton said the budget is giving more money to companies and less to Canadian citizens. The budget also has been criticized by some finance critics.

"He should have had a strategy," Liberal Leader and former Environment Minister under Jean Chrétien, Stéphane Dion, said today. "He should have explained how his budget would make us more competitive, how it would be fairer for those in need, how it would enhance the environment."

"For every step forward, there seems to be two steps back," said Layton. "We could have supported child care or environment and given less to the big board rooms of Bay Street."

Elections have to happen five years or less after a government is elected. The federal election of 2005 was held during winter.