Oxfam Canada reaction to Budget 2015: Wrong choices

“Budgets are about choices. And this Budget is built for those who already have plenty of choices. For Oxfam, the right choices are about investing in women’s rights and reducing inequality at home and abroad,” said Caroline Marrs – Director of Oxfam Canada’s Centre for Gender Justice.

Canadian implications

• 85% of Canadian families see no benefit from the $2.2 billion income splitting tax cut
• The $3 billion increase in the Universal Child Care Benefit is misdirected because 51% of recipients are families with no child care needs
• This budget contains zero action towards the creation of a national child care plan – which would cost less than the tax measures announced in today’s Budget.
• A national child care plan would make a real difference for families across the country. It would go a long way to addressing one of the greatest barriers to women’s full participation in the economy.
• Justice Canada tells us that the annual cost of intimate partner violence and adult sexual assault is $12.2 billion. It would take $500 million to pay for a national action plan on violence against women.

Canada on the international stage

• This Budget says nothing about international aid. Meaning that rather than moving toward the commitment of 0.7% of GNI (gross national income) –Canada remains below 0.24% GNI in terms of spending on aid funding. In the United Kingdom, the government recently announced that it will exceed the 0.7% target for the second year in a row.
• In 2014, Canadians remitted $5.9 Billion to 20 countries – more than all Government spending on development assistance to those countries by a factor of 8
• While the government often speaks of the commitment to saving the lives of women and children, Canada has devoted ever less of its international development assistance to promoting women’s rights overseas. Less than 2% of Canada’s aid budget has been allocated to programs that advance gender equality and women’s empowerment over the past five years.
• Virtually none of Canada’s Muskoka funding has been going to reproductive healthcare and family planning. In just one year, the UK government spending on family planning was more than double the total that Canada spent on family planning in the last four years.

For more information on why Budget 2015 makes the wrong choices for Canada and the world contact Melanie Gallant @ c) 613 240 3047 or .