2005 Canadian Federal Budget was released during the fiscal year 2005-2006. The budget discussion was held at the House of Commons on 23rd February 2005 by the Finance Minister Ralph Goodale. During the time of budget presentation there was a minority government ruling the country. The Liberal Party of Canada had half number of seats in the Parliament and therefore had to seek the support of all the opposition parties to pass the budget. The government had excess revenue earnings that year. Hence they could afford to spend the money for some fruitful activities which they did. The budget received the consent of the House on 28th June 2005.
The Liberal Party entered an agreement with the NDP or the National Democratic Party that they would make some alterations in the budget according to NDP in exchange of their support for the budget. The budget was passed at the House after this alliance with some alterations in it.
The Highlights of the Budget
The budget was an ideal one since it was a balanced budget presented by the Liberal Government. Some minor tax reductions were included in the budget both for industries and for individuals on a five year plan basis. This implied that most of these reductions would be implemented towards the end of the five year plan. The basic personal exemption of tax on a monthly basis would accumulate to $10000 from $8000 over a period of five years. This would lead to an average tax savings of $16 for an individual Canadian which if added over a span of five years would become $192 in the end.
The amount of new funds was $500 million. As promised by the Liberal Government the amount to be allotted for the NDP was $12.7 million. In the budget some amount of money was also allotted for the Child Care program taken up by the government and fund was made available for Canada's endeavor to conform to the Kyoto Accord. Money was set aside for the health care department, for the welfare of various cities and for foreign aid as well. A total amount of $11 billion was saved for the country as the foreign aid to Thailand and Malaysia was ended and the Air Travel Complaints Commissioner was abolished.
Immediate Reactions of the Opposition
The Conservative strangely supported the budget since they felt that tax reduction and the expenditure on defense was in line with their budget presentation. However, according to the convention the opposition cannot vote in favor of the budget presented by the government. Therefore, Conservative Party along with the NDP joined hands in non participation against the government.