By Leah Murray

Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards believes yesterday's federal budget is designed to serve as a distraction from current Ottawa scandals and believes it does absolutely nothing for Alberta.

Tabled in the House of Commons yesterday, the federal government's 2019-2020 budget includes $22.9 billion in new spending and a projected deficit of $19.8 billion.

In a press statement, Richards says the deficit is unacceptable.

“Despite promising to balance the budget by 2019, Trudeau is instead running a deficit of $19.8 billion in hopes that Canadians will forget about SNC Lavalin,” he said in the statement.

There is some relief for home buyers, though.

The budget includes support for first-time home buyers and buyers with lower incomes through the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive. The program would allow buyers who put down less than 20 per cent to finance part of their home purchase through a shared-equity mortgage. The money would have to be repaid when the home is sold.

First-time buyers will also be able to withdraw $35,000 in RRSPs without having to pay tax on it, that’s $10,000 more than the previous limit.

Canadians are getting their first glimpse at a national pharmacare plan. The government is proposing the creation of a new department to manage the federal program within Health Canada. The Canadian Drug Agency would be responsible for deciding and managing which drugs would be covered under the program. A total of $35 million dollars has been earmarked over the next four years to establish the department.

In his statement, Richards says he believes the incentives in the budget are distractions from issues that have been plaguing the federal Liberals in recent weeks.

“While the Liberals are pretending that the money they are spending on home buyers, seniors, and increased access to the internet will distract Canadians from Trudeau’s corruption - no one is fooled,” read the statement. “Life is not more affordable. The budget is not balanced and the debt is getting deeper .”

Richards says a glaring omission from the budget was any reference to pipelines and there's little reference to Canada's energy sector.

“This budget does nothing to address the uncertainty in the days ahead and it does nothing for Albertans,” he said. “The Liberals only mentioned oil and gas once in the 2019 budget.”