Tuesday’s federal budget will bring tax cuts and lots of construction, along with shots in the arm for ailing sectors like auto and forestry, says Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Minister Peter MacKay.
The recession has forced the Harper Tories to open up the treasury, and MacKay told reporters this morning there will be a heavy emphasis on construction.
“It’s obviously intended to as quickly and effectively as possible stimulate the economy. It will, by necessity, involve a lot of emphasis on infrastructure…the type of projects that are very much needed,” MacKay said.
“It’s designed in a way that will have the maximum effect in the shortest amount of time, given the seriousness of this economic crisis.”
MacKay said there will also be money for hard-hit areas like Ontario, where manufacturing and the decline of the automotive sector have pushed the province into have-not status.
ACOA research money
MacKay was in Halifax to hand out $12.4 million in ACOA research money for six Nova Scotia companies.
Sydney’s Keata Pharma will use $3 million over the next three years to use galanthamine, a compound found in daffodil leaves, to produce a cheaper drug that helps delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
Halifax’s Genome Atlantic is getting $3 million over four years to work on new techniques for preventing farmed cod from maturing too quickly, a project aimed at helping the cod industry recover.
Helly Hansen, in Dartmouth, is working on a new type of cold-water survival suit for the offshore industry. It will get $1 million over three years.
Amherst’s C-Vision got $3 million over two years to work on solar-powered streetlights and other green streetlight projects.
Dalhousie University got $1.1 million over five years to develop new acoustic tools for shoreline protection and navigation channels.
Finally, Oxford Frozen Foods, which is developing new ways to cut the costs and raise the yields of their wild blueberry fields, got $1.4 million over five years.
