On February 11, 2014, the Minister of Finance, James M. Flaherty, tabled the Conservative government’s tenth federal budget.  Flaherty chose to stay the course towards a balanced budget in 2015 and will rely on employment and job creation to drive economic growth.

The measures introduced to foster employment include:

  1. The Canada First Research Excellence Fund, which will provide $1.5 billion over the next decade to fund post-secondary research.
  2. The Canada Accelerator and Incubator Program, which will receive an additional $40 million to help entrepreneurs create new companies.
  3. The Targeted Initiative for Older Workers program, which will invest $75 million over 3 years to assist unemployed older workers.
  4. The Canada Job Grant, which will be introduced to align training with labour market needs.