The Federal budget for renovators

In general, this majority budget is a safe budget that threatens to disappear into history very quickly once it is passed in the house,which is surely will. I mean to say that, once the opposition has a chance to spin their disapprovals to reflect their political agendas, it will be business as usual for the rest of us.

Your market will change little, except perhaps if your market happens to be Ottawa, where the primary employer will be cutting jobs fairly aggressively. Your business taxes will remain the same, the taxes of your markets will remain untouched, and any reduction in spending power on the part of your older (plus 50) market created by this budget will not become apparent until well into the future.

In fact, if you are in the West, you have many reasons for optimism. With approvals for such large, environmentally sensitive projects expected to be fast tracked, you have the prospect of a lively market of homeowners who’s prospects for continued employment and prosperity are very good. They will be more willing to have another child, build an addition and generally expand their living styles with new cottages and bigger boats that need better docks.

The sop to the East, I think, is the additional spending on innovation. The message in this budget is philosophically conservative as much as it points to the need of the East to more competitive in the marketplace, not expanding the civil service.

The best summary of the budget I found is this one provided by the Conference Board of Canada. In it, you’ll find all the numbers associated with the budget expectations over the next few years and a relatively short explanation of its highlights.