1995 Federal Budget Briefs | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Macleans

1995 Federal Budget Briefs

This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on March 13, 1995

Federal Budget Briefs, 1995

1) No personal income tax increases, but gasoline taxes rise by 1.5 cents per litre.

2) Deficit set at $37.9 billion in 1994-1995, $32.7 billion in 1995-1996 and $24.3 billion in 1996-1997.

3) Annual $560-million subsidy to railways under Western Grain Transportation Act (the historic Crow rate) is eliminated, but farmers given a one-time cash payout of $1.6 billion.

4) Federal subsidies to business to be cut from $3.8 billion this year to $1.5 billion in 1997-1998 - a 60-per-cent reduction.

5) Petro-Canada, Canadian National Railways and the country's air navigation system to be sold to the private sector.

6) About 45,000 civil servants - 14 per cent of the federal workforce - to lose their jobs over three years.

7) New block funding for social programs to replace cost-sharing agreements with the provinces. Overall provincial transfers will be cut by $1.6 billion in 1996-1997.

Maclean's March 13, 1995