Local MP Carol Hughes is giving a mixed review for the Liberal government's new budget.
The Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing New Democrat is taking credit for many measures in the budget tabled Tuesday.
Among the pieces Hughes touts as NDP priorities brought in after Liberal resistance are the 27% reduction in interchange fees Visa and Mastercard charge small businesses, and the continued rollout of a national dental care plan for families earning less than $90-thousand - it rolled out last year for those under the age of 12, but will expand this year to cover up to age 18 plus seniors and those with disabilities.
Hughes attributes much of the gains to the Liberal/NDP supply-and-confidence agreement, and dismisses questions about whether tensions between the two parties means an election call nears.
While Hughes says the Liberal budget doesn't go as far as the NDP would like, she says the Conservatives would not have offered these supports and raises concerns a Tory government might dismantle them, if elected, so she doesn't see a reason to reject the budget.
Among those other priorities Hughes looks to push on is the opioid crisis - noting there was some support in the budget, but more is needed - as well as a promised pharmacare program, drinking water for Indigenous communities, and a 10% increase in GIS, though she also lauds funding for made-by-Indigenous housing and vague plans for a Red Dress Alert similar to Amber Alerts, but for Indigenous women rather than children.