Finance Minister Oliver pledges tax relief for families once budget balanced

TORONTO – Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver says the government will provide tax relief once the budget is balanced next year.

Oliver told a business audience in Toronto that there won’t be any big stimulus package next year.

But he says once the budget is balanced and moves into a surplus position, there will be relief for “hard-working Canadian families” who pay too much in taxes.

Oliver didn’t address the contentious issue of income splitting and he stressed that job creation would continue to be a top priority.

Oliver, a lawyer with an MBA who worked in the private sector finance community before entering politics, was addressing the Bay Street crowd for the first time since taking over as finance minister from Jim Flaherty last month.

Until March, Flaherty and had been the Harper government’s only finance minister, and the one who managed the economy through the 2008-2009 recession.