OTTAWA — Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will hand down a slightly revised version of the budget on June 6, including a provision to phase out per-vote subsidies for political parties.
The minister said the document will reflect much of what was in the March 22 budget, which died with the election call.
The new budget, “a low-tax plan for jobs and growth,” will include some small tweaks, Flaherty said today, including a provision for harmonizing federal and provincial sales taxes in Quebec.
The March budget included improved benefits for the poorest seniors, tax credits for family caregivers, children’s arts-and-crafts programs and volunteer firefighters.
It offered student loan forgiveness for doctors and nurses who re-locate to remote or rural areas.
The document also resurrected the home energy retrofit program.
All these will be back, the minister said.
Flaherty said the government will continue to try to cut spending by $4 billion a year.
“These savings will allow us to return to balance one year earlier than expected in 2014-15,” he said.
Flaherty said he hopes to get the budget approved in principle before the Commons adjourns for the summer.
“I would hope, certainly, that we would move forward on the ways-and-means motion and get approval in principle at least during the June session.”
An end to the per-vote subsidies for political parties will hurt the opposition far more than the Conservatives, who have long enjoyed a big edge in fundraising.
The last time the Tories tried to kill the subsidies, the opposition parties erupted and forced Prime Minister Stephen Harper to prorogue Parliament to stave off defeat of his minority government.
This time around, with a Tory majority, the opposition can bluster but can’t block the idea.
The Commons returns to elect a new Speaker next Thursday, June 2. The Governor General will read the throne speech the following day.