The Liberal government’s federal budget is being applauded by the Mayor of Windsor.
Drew Dilkens says he likes the plan to to make housing more affordable for millennials.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s budget includes $885 million over five years to make homes more affordable for first-time buyers
The government plan offers to pick up part of the cost of a mortgage for a new home to help households with incomes under $120,000. The assistance would depend on the type of home.
The budget would also allow Canadians to be able to pull up to $35,000 from their retirement savings to fund the purchase.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens tells CTV Windsor the affordable housing plan is one of the positives in this budget.
“If you look at the project we did on Meadowbrook that is going to be under construction very soon, it was really through the CMHC programs that we’re able to get that affordable housing project off the ground,” says Dilkens. “I think it could be very, very positive for the City of Windsor and for other cities across Canada.”
The latest statistics from the Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors shows the average price of a home sold in February was $322,109. That compares to $268,168 in February 2018.
The federal government has also earmarked $2.2-billion in a one-time transfer payment to municipalities through Gas Tax funding.
Dilkens hopes to use that funding to help with the purchase of 24 new Transit Windsor buses, while also expanding and enhancing the transit system.
The federal budget also looks at a national pharmacare plan.
The Liberals say a new national drug agency will help negotiate better drug prices and drive down the cost of medications.
The plan also involves creating a central list of drugs considered cost-effective, and $500 million per year, starting in 2022-23, to help cover the cost of drugs for rare diseases.
Tim Brady of Brady’s Drug Store in Belle River and Essex says a pharmacare plan is desperately needed.
Brady tells CTV Windsor aging boomers in Canada will require double the medication now available.
He also believes Canadians will get better care because of increased competition.
“I’m glad to see the governments being proactive and taking a stance to try to get ahead of it for once as compared to being reactionary,” says Brady. “Hopefully we can all work together at the end of the day to make sure people get the meds they need and at the cost that we can all afford."
The federal government says prescription-drug spending in Canada has spiked over the past 30 years, climbing from $2.6 billion in 1985 to $33.7 billion in 2018.
Funding for some of Tuesday's commitments will only start kicking in after October's election, giving voters the chance to weigh in on the budget's contents at the ballot box.
