23th February 2011

Tonight is one of those nights, Paris remebered too late in the evening she had to research on global warming, I can't find my cellphone, the dishes and the ironing are screaming at me and I've not started painting yet.  But someone popped in who hasn't seen the work in a while and they seem excited by it, that gives me the energy to carry on this evening... Tonight I'm going to try to capture some of the budget issues, not all 46 pages, but key issues.

Here is a very small snippet of the begining of the budget speech document:

For the poor, the Budget continues to expand spending on housing, rural

development, better community services and social assistance grants for the

elderly, the disabled and children in need.

For workers, the Budget emphasises job creation and expenditure on the

“social wage,” including access to health services, education, social security,

transport and municipal infrastructure.

For the business sector, the Budget expands investment in modernising our

infrastructure and transport logistics, accelerating further education and skills

development and supporting research, technology and industrial investment.

For the small business sector, there are targeted financial and enterprise

development programmes, and tax relief measures.

For the youth, there is expanded access and financial assistance for further

education, and a range of initiatives aimed at expanding job opportunities