The federal budget does nothing for Alberta and the oil patch according to Foothills MP John Barlow.

Barlow says tax credit changes on oil and gas are huge and will deter development.

"they've made some changes in here that are going to hurt the oil industry, they've made some tax changes on drilling and our Canadian drilling and natural gas exploration industry which is going to deter new exploration and new development," he says. "For us in Alberta, 100,000 people out of work, most of them relate to the energy sector, you'd think that if anything you'd be looking for ways to kick start the energy sector in Alberta, instead of that you're making matters worse."

Barlow says claims by the Liberals that they're out to help the middle class are laughable.

"This government when it came in the Prime Minister said during their campaign 'we're going to be running modest deficits' $28.5 billion deficits are not modest and that's what this budget is showing," he says.

Barlow says ending the transit pass tax credit will get more people back into their own vehicles which seems to fly in the face of the Liberals desire to cut carbon emissions and help students get to class so they can learn and gain employment.

He says the affordable housing strategy is something the Conservatives have said needs to be looked at so he was glad to see that included and there are issues with investments in mental health that are good. He says in High River and the foothills after the flood of 2013 the importance of mental health services came to the fore and one of the items that came out in their Alberta jobs task force was the need for more money for mental health resources with was addressed to a degree.

Barlow is very concerned about the $28.5 billion dollar deficit which will see the country's debt potentially balloon to $760 billion dollars by 2022.

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