Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has delivered another balanced budget that builds a stronger safer, better Canada by cutting taxes for working families, paying down the nation’s debt and investing in the priorities of Canadians.

Budget 2007 builds a stronger Canada by:

• Delivering a balanced budget;
• Cutting taxes for families with a new $2,000 tax credit for every child under 18;
• Reducing the nation’s debt; and
• Providing $39 billion in new funding for health, education and infrastructure to restore the fiscal balance.

Budget 2007 builds a safer Canada by:

• Creating a new National Anti-Drug Strategy to crack down on gangs and the drug trade;
• Providing more funding to the RCMP to protect children from online predators and human trafficking;
• Investing $4.5 billion to clean up Canada’s air and water, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change; and
• Providing $612 million in new funding to assist provinces reduce patient wait times.

Budget 2007 builds a better Canada by:

• Introducing the new Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB) of up to $1,000 for families ($500 for individuals) to help 1.2 million people over the welfare wall;
• Increasing the maximum Canada Education Savings Grant by $100, eliminating the limit on annual RESP contributions and increasing the lifetime RESP contribution limit to $50,000;
• Providing $250 million per year to the provinces to create new child care spaces;
• Increasing the age limit for converting registered pensions and RRSPs from 69 to 71 to assist older Canadians work and save;
• Increasing the age amount by $1,000 and implementing pension income spitting for couples to cut taxes for seniors by $1 billion every year; and
• Increasing post-secondary education funding by 40% to ensure Canadians are the best educated, most flexible workforce in the world.

With Budget 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canada’s New Government continues to provide strong leadership to build a stronger, safer, better Canada that gets things done for families and taxpayers.