Focus on housing and auto crime in federal budget welcome news for Brampton, says Mayor Brown
Published April 18, 2024 at 4:04 pm
The federal government’s plans to increase spending on housing programs, infrastructure projects and auto theft prevention is good news for Brampton residents, but the mayor still wants to see Ottawa do more to cut down on crime.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the 2024 federal budget on Tuesday pledging $53 billion in new spending that she says is focused on economic justice for younger generations.
The Liberals plan to pay for most of the new spending with higher taxes on the wealthiest Canadians and businesses, increasing the taxable portion of capital gains above $250,000 from half to two-thirds.
The move will impact around 0.1 per cent of Canadians and help raise nearly $20 billion in revenue over five years, the Liberals said.
Among that new spending is a $400 million top-up to the federal Housing Accelerator Fund – a program which has given $114 million to the City of Brampton to help build 24,000 new homes over the next decade, including three affordable housing projects already approved by council.
The budget also includes a new $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund to accelerate the construction and upgrading of critical housing infrastructure, a $15 billion top-up to the Apartment Construction Loan Program to build a minimum of 30,000 new apartments and a new $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund.
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Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said he welcomes the support from Ottawa on new spending on housing initiatives and projects that will benefit Brampton residents and businesses.
“By investing in infrastructure, we can create more spaces to call home, attract better jobs and do our part to keep costs down for families,” Brown said in a release.
But the mayor is still pushing the feds for improved security measures at the Port of Montreal to help hold back a tidal wave of stolen cars leaving the country.
Nearly 600 stolen vehicles were recently recovered from the port by police and border agents in a joint operation that netted some $34 million worth of stolen autos. Most of the vehicles were stolen in Toronto at 215 recovered, while Mississauga and Brampton had the second-highest tally at 125.
The budget also includes plans for new criminal offences related to auto theft. And while Brown welcomed any steps to stiffen Canada’s Criminal Code he again called on Ottawa to focus on security and scanning technology at ports.
Brown is also urging for greater collaboration between the CBSA and municipal law enforcement agencies to cut down on red tape to make it easier for police to gain access to shipping containers.
“I call on the federal government to act with urgency to stem this criminal tide by installing desperately needed scanning devices in the coming months at our major ports and intermodal hubs,” the mayor said.
In the lead-up to the budget, Freeland promised that the government will abide by the fiscal guardrails it promised in the fall, including keeping the deficit rising above $40.1 billion.
The fall economic statement also set the goal of keeping deficits below one per cent of the GDP beginning in 2026-27 and lowering the debt-to-GDP ratio in 2024-25 relative to the projection.
While the deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year remained flat at $40 billion, it comes in higher than previously forecast for the rest of the projection horizon.
– With files from The Canadian Press
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