OTTAWA - Conservative attack ads may accuse Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff of "just visiting" for his years living overseas, but Tuesday's federal budget makes it easier for young Canadians to study abroad.
By sprinkling some fiscal fairy dust, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's sixth budget tries to slice off a key plank in a possible Liberal election campaign -- education.
Flaherty offered modest credits that increase exemptions and expand eligibility for Canada Student Loans and Grants by $34 million a year, and invest $9 million over two years to increase adult basic education and opportunities in the North.
Flaherty also offered $10 million in tax relief to Canadian students pursuing post-secondary education abroad.
"As Canadian students seek to develop the skills and knowledge needed to work in a global marketplace, the government recognizes students pursuing the best educational opportunities available to them, whether in Canada or abroad," the budget says.
Ignatieff has accused the Harper government of insulting Canadians studying and working abroad through attack ads that vilify him for his three decades working as a academic, author and journalist in Britain and the United States.
Flaherty's budget also contains new spending aimed at luring the best and brightest foreign students to Canada's halls of higher learning.
The budget provides $10 million over two years to develop "an international education strategy that will reinforce Canada as a country of choice to study and conduct world-class research." And it commits $12 million over five years toward the Canada-India Research Centre of Excellence.
Bruce Flexman, chair of the tax policy committee of the Chartered Accountants of Canada, said most of the tax credits amounted to "fairy dust" and were "small potatoes" in terms of the size of the economy.
"It's sort of that sense -- you get a little bit, you notice it and you move on."
Ignatieff has said Canada needs to invest in education and innovation to protect the country's competitive advantage globally.
Flaherty agrees.
"Our government will keep investing in the knowledge and skills Canadians need to prosper over the long term in the global economy," the finance minister said.
The budget provides for $155 million in new spending in the coming fiscal year to support innovation and research. This includes an extra $65 million for Genome Canada, and support for three federal research granting councils.
Flexman said an across-the-board tax credit for research and development would have been preferable, instead of the government picking and choosing who gets a break this time. But that would have cost the government billions of dollars instead of tens of millions.
Flexman said for those industries targeted in the budget, the tax relief will make a difference. "You have to pick the winner and the rest are losers when you give out grants."
Canada's skilled workers benefited from a new measure that will now make certification exams tax deductible in almost four dozen occupations, trades and professions.
That tax break will extend from plumbers, welders, metal fabricators, machinists, to chartered accountants, physicians, registered nurses and architects.
"Somebody who can't deduct their exam fees under the tuition credit has probably always wondered why they can't claim it," said Flexman.
