During a meeting of the Standing Committee on National Finance, Senator Ringuette wanted to know from the Minister of Finance why his government’s budget is accentuating the disparity between the urban and rural regions of Canada.
“The responsibility of a government lies in bringing just policies for every Canadian. In the last budget, funds were allocated for the capital cost for urban transit and tax breaks were also given to its users. However, people that live in our rural communities and in our small cities do not have access to public transit. There is nothing in this conservative budget to ensure certain equity” said Senator Ringuette.
At this moment, our rural communities are suffering from an exodus because the young adults are leaving those communities to settle in urban regions. The conservative budget will only heighten that migration. The transport iniquity that exists could be slightly resolved if the government would invest in regional airports and in VIA Rail.
“There’s no money in their budget for regional airports or for VIA Rail. That government is doing nothing for our rural regions. Canadians that live in rural communities must purchase a car, pay for gasoline, pay for the maintenance and, above all, pay for the overwhelming cost of auto insurance; which is not the case for public transit users” stated Senator Ringuette.