The Federal government of Canada can take historic steps when it comes to securing the interests of the LGBTQ+ community in the country. But what if we talk about the women or children or even the military personnel of the country, the government of Canada cares for none.
Remember when the federals announced a plan of allocating $100M to the 2SLGBT pride funds? But when the provinces are requesting for some aid to resuscitate the ailing health sector, they do not seem interested.
According to a recent report, tens of billions of dollars in promised programmes and services, such as new military hardware, affordable housing, and help for veterans, were not provided by the federal government of Canada during the previous fiscal year.
Federal departments blame a record $38 billion in funding forfeited in 2021-22 for a variety of factors, including delays and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Liberal government posted a lower-than-anticipated deficit for the fiscal year that concluded on March 31, 2022, thanks in large part to the unspent cash. Canada reported a $90.2 billion deficit, $23.6 billion less than anticipated.
One observer contends that the historically high amount of financing that has expired, the majority of which has been returned to the federal treasury, is a sign of the country’s ongoing difficulties in completing major federal projects.
Of all ministries and organisations, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada recorded the greatest gaps, with roughly $11.2 billion of their combined $28.2 billion budgets going unused.
The Defence Department was also one of them, with a $2.5 billion deficit in the previous fiscal year. Due to delays in the supply of new military hardware, including Arctic patrol ships and modifications to the Army’s armoured vehicles, a large portion of the funding was not used.
Major military infrastructure projects have also been delayed, according to Defence Department spokesperson Jessica Lamirande. These include a new armoury in New Brunswick and the renovation and reconstruction of two jetties for the Navy at Esquimalt, British Columbia.
The Defence Department’s breach, which has been slowly worsening in recent years, is a symptom of Ottawa’s ongoing troubles procuring new military hardware, according to defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
“If we’re not getting those procurement projects through, we’re not getting new equipment into the inventory, so we don’t actually have the gear for our troops,” he said, noting many of the delayed projects were launched under the Harper government.
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Perry also noted the current rate of inflation, which is already naturally higher for military equipment and the defence sector than most other parts of the economy. Not spending money now means Canada will have to pay more for the same gear and services later, he said.
“The government of Canada’s ability to actually deliver services to the public, especially when it comes to large projects, large capital projects, be it for equipment or infrastructure or IT projects, is struggling across the board,” he said.
Other federal agencies with significant spending shortfalls were Indigenous Services Canada ($3.4 billion) and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada ($2.2 billion).
A nearly $1 billion shortfall was also recorded by Veterans Affairs Canada last year, which the agency attributed to a lower-than-anticipated number of applications from sick and injured former service members.
However, some have pointed to prior budget gaps as proof of the difficulties many veterans experience in obtaining benefits and services. The Royal Canadian Legion wanted an explanation from the Harper administration in 2014 as to why $1.1 billion went unapplied for seven years.
Well, this must not come as a shock. We already know how the military personnel are suffering at the hands of Trudeau. The struggling Canadian war veterans are down with military trauma. They have been banking on the liberal government for some help. The government department of veteran affairs has been plagued with problems like how to provide benefits to disabled veterans.
Healthcare is in shambles; military is in crisis but Trudeau is taking a lengthy sleep.
These shortfalls and unused budgets point fingers towards only one entity, the federal government. This scenario has revealed that the different ongoing crises across Canada cannot be attributed only to covid 19 and Ukraine-Russia war but there is a bigger role of Trudeau’s mismanagement and policy paralysis which has led Canada to this stage. With Trudeau’s chair already in danger it looks like his endless gaffes in governing Canada are only going to land him in hot soup in the not-so-distant future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMFPjc9FRig
