FEDERAL BUDGET 2012 HIGHLIGHTS

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Budget: Highlights of the 2012 federal budgetThe budget will:- Gradually raise the age of eligibility for Old Age Security from 65 to 67 beginning in 2023.- Contain no new taxes or tax increases.- Tell consumers to complain directly to food companies about product labelling.- Eliminate the penny.- Eliminate 19,200 government jobs over three years, including 600 senior executives and 7,200 through attrition.- Reform regulation in the resource industry, including amending the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.- Allow Canadians to claim more goods duty-free at the border. The limit after 24 hours goes from $50 to $200.- Cap EI premium rate increases to 5 cents a year until the fund is balanced again.- Cut $2.1 billion from the Department of National Defence over the next three years.- Cut funding to the CBC by 10 per cent over three years totaling $115 million.- Cut funding to Elections Canada by $7.5 million a year starting in 2012-13.- Give $5.2 billion over 11 years to the Canadian Coast Guard.- Give $67 million to the National Research Council to refocus on "business-led, industry-relevant research."- Streamline overall regulatory reviews of major economic projects.- Provide $275 million to build and renovate schools on reserves.- Pass legislation to create standards for First Nations education.- Refund $130 million in application and processing fees to skilled foreign workers stuck in immigration limbo.- Raise the retirement age of public servants from 60 to 65, for new employees beginning in 2013.- Increase employee-contribution levels to pension plans for those working in Canadian Forces, RCMP, Public Service Commission and parliamentarians.- Make the Governor General pay income tax beginning in 2013.- Shut down the Public Appointments Commission, Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, and the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.- Sell official residences abroad, generating $80 million in revenue.- Standardize all government emails to one system.- $205 million over one year for Hiring Credit for Small Business.- Give $50 million over two years to Youth Employment Strategy.- Give $150 million over two years on Community Infrastructure Improvement fund- Give $105 million next year to Via Rail for operational and capital projects.- Give $101 million over next five years for Esquimalt Graving Dock.- Give $50 million over two years to protect wildlife at risk.- Provide $450 million for sports facilities in the Greater Toronto Area for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games.- Give $8 million to clean up low-level radioactive waste in Port Hope and Clarington, Ont.- Provide $44 million over two years to the Canadian Grain Commission to reform their funding model.- Provide $13.5 million over two years to improve pipeline safety.- Give $35.7 million over two years to improve tanker safety and inspections, emergency preparedness related to oil spills and updated charts for shipping routes.- Announce a new global commerce strategy in 2013 that sets trade priorities.- Provide $9.6 million over three years to the RCMP to fight counterfeiting.- Give $ 99.2 million over three years to help the provinces create permanent flood mitigation measures.- The Government has found $5.2 billion in ongoing savings from departmental spending or less than two per cent of federal program spending.Read more: http://www.canada.com/business/Budget+Highlights+2012+federal+budget/6380795/story.html#ixzz1qbN57uvG