‘It’s a good budget for Ottawa:’ Mayor Watson responds to federal spending package

The federal government has unveiled it's first budget in two years, and so far, Mayor Jim Watson is happy with Ottawa's piece of the fiscal pie.

“I think it's a good budget for Ottawa,” Mayor Watson tells CityNews Ottawa. “I think it allows the government to invest in things that really do need investing in, particularly as we are still in the midst of a pandemic. This is not the time for restraint or austerity when so many people have lost their jobs, so many businesses have gone out of business. We need to kickstart the economy.”

The $100-billion spending package aims to stimulate the economy post-pandemic, by including about $1-billion for the tourism and festival sectors, which are big business in Ottawa.

“The money for tourism, $1-billion, is a lot of money.” Watson says. “We don't have the details on how that is going to be spent, but we hope to get our fair of that, because obviously tourism is vitally important to Ottawa's economy.”

Watson is also pleased to see the doubling of the gas tax revenue, which he says will help fund transit operations, funding for long-term care homes, and funding for daycare.

“The daycare program will help a lot of families and parents, particularly post-COVID-19,” Watson said.

The federal budget also contains $2.5-billion for housing, and Watson says he is keen to find out how much of that will go to help Ottawa.