Double-income family says budget leaves less money for food

A double-income family with two kids in St. John's says the provincial budget is going to force it to make some tough choices.

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Natasha Blackwoodworks with the Refugee and Immigrant Advisory Council. Her husband Aaron is an insurance broker. They have two young children. Nina, 3, isin full time day care and Lucy,8,isin primary school.

"We live really frugally, We don'tsmoke or drink or shop or party and we still have a very strictbudget so we can payour student loan payments and our daycare bill," said Blackwood.

"We're educated people who work full-time," she said.

"We don't generally go on vacations but we do put money aside so our kids can go to classes. like dance and swimming and wesacrificea lot so that they can have those things.We sacrifice a lot as adults so our children can have good lives."

Will cut into food budget

Blackwoodwas paying attention when the province announced its budget Thursday.She estimates that with increases in income tax, fuel taxes, insurance,and the HST, her family will give an additional $5,000 to $7,000 to the province this year.

Eating healthily may not be an option.Things like swimming and dance classes may not be an option.- Natasha Blackwood

"We sat down and crunched the numbers and I honestly don't know what we are going to do. That's more than our expendable income. It's going to cut into our food budget," she said.

"We buy the broccoli instead of the Kraft Dinner but now eating healthily may not be an option.Things like swimming and dance classes may not be an option. Taking your kid to the birthday party that you have to buy a present for is not an option because if you have to choose between that and paying your mortgage, you have to pay your mortgage and the people who are going to suffer are the children."

'I'm really mad'

So, how does she feel about the budget?

"I'm angry, I'm really mad. We worked really hard for a really long time. We pay our taxes. We live carefully. We do everything right and this province is making it impossible for us to survive," says Blackwood.

"And for single parents, seniors, people with disabilities, people with chronic illnesses who don't have their medications covered I have no idea what they will do. They will probably have to move away."

To add insult to injury, Blackwood is expecting another child this year and the province has cancelled the $1000 baby bonus.

"For a lot of young parents that's going to mean losing theirhomes and moving in with their parents," she said.