The federal agriculture critic says he’s not giving the new budget a passing grade.

David Anderson says when it comes to agriculture, the Liberals have recycled some money from previous announcements:

"They said they will put some money into a super cluster focused around agri-food and that will amount to approximately $30-million a year," said David Anderson. "The issue with that is, that is old money, that's not new money, that's money that was budgeted in 2016. They're just coming back and recycling some money on a different idea."

He notes the $2 billion dollars over 11 years they targeted for rural internet and perhaps road construction is not very much money spread out across the country.

He also noted he is concerned about the government's plans to hold a consultation regarding the elimination of the tax deferral program for farmers.

"In the past farmers have been able to either make their grain checkout for this year or defer the income for next year," he said. "It looks pretty clear they're already moving to take that away from our ag producers. I think that will probably be a big deal on the prairies because a lot of people have appreciated that opportunity over the years."  

Anderson says while they plan to hold a consultation, it still usually means they’ve already made up their mind on what they want to do.

The budget also revokes the tax credit insurance companies received for supplying insurance to farmers and fishermen.

He says overall the Liberals continue to run up the debt.