The House of Commons passed the federal budget bill on Tuesday evening. The bill now heads to the Senate.

“Budget 2007 is great for Canadians,” said Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, in a release. “It delivers tax relief for families and businesses. It supports clean air and climate change projects. It provides predictable, long-term funding for post-secondary education, social assistance and social services. And it continues to make significant progress in reducing our federal debt.”

The budget bill now goes to the Senate for final approval. “I now encourage members of the senate to follow suit and pass the budget bill as quickly as possible,” said Flaherty. “If the bill is delayed, Canadian families, provinces and non-profit organizations will be denied access to billions of dollars in funding.”

Included in the measures passed in the bill:

  • authorization to provide funding to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada for financial literacy activities;
  • modernization of bankruptcy and insolvency rules to ensure full legal protection for eligible financial contracts; and
  • enhanced government borrowing authority, including the consolidation of borrowing of major Crown corporations.

Other measures include:

  • various forms of tax relief;
  • a commitment to devote all interest savings from federal debt reduction each year to reducing personal income taxes;
  • reform to the Equalization and Territorial Funding Formula programs;
  • long-term funding in support of post-secondary education, social assistance and social services;
  • the $1.5 billion Canada ecoTrust for Clean Air and Climate Change;
  • up to $612 million for jurisdictions that have committed to implementing wait times guarantees; and, $300 million for a vaccine program for cervical cancer.

Legislation to implement the remaining budget proposals is being developed for introduction at a later time.