The Andrew Furey campaign finally released two policy positions on Monday: one on appointing an economic recovery adviser and another on preventing amateur sports organizations from being sued if players contract COVID-19.
The Furey campaign announced on Monday morning they would introduce protections for amateur sports organizations from lawsuits should any player contract COVID-19 while playing an amateur sport. Furey says such organizations will be protected from any liability, assuming they follow the appropriate health measures outlined by public health officials.
“As we see other jurisdictions take this step, we hope that the federal government will see this as a national issue and take appropriate action,” Furey stated in a news release.
“Taking this step will allow local organizations, and their many volunteers, to get back to play without fear of liability, as long as they follow the guidelines to do so safely.”
Furey’s opponent in the Liberal leadership race, John Abbott, says Furey needs to get his priorities in order.
“My primary concern is putting measures in place to prevent children from getting COVID-19, whether it be while playing sports, attending school, playing with friends and acquaintances, or anywhere else,” Abbott stated in a news release.
“To say that protecting sports organizations from being sued is his top priority among his first policy statements is baffling, and alarming. I would have expected better from a doctor, parent and leadership hopeful.”
In another Monday announcement, the Furey campaign says the plan to get the economy of the province back up and running after the COVID-19 pandemic will be led by a chief economic recovery officer. The position would function similarly to the chief medical officer of health, but instead of being focused on public health, the person would focus on economic recovery, Furey stated.
The economic officer would advise the premier and “a group of non-partisan experts with diverse business backgrounds” on the economic recovery plan, he stated.
“The team will have a clear mandate to develop ideas to address economic growth, job creation, diversification, debt management and strengthening our fiscal position, allowing the Department of Finance to focus on the day-to-day running of the province,” a release from the Furey campaign stated.
The Abbott campaign says it would have a different approach in the first 100 days on the job.
“In my first week as premier, I will create a volunteer, multi-sectoral economic task force comprised of business leaders from throughout the province to speed our economic recovery,” Abbott stated.
“The task force will report to me and to an all-party committee on the economy in real-time and provide advice on the actions needed to speed recovery and get people back to work.”
The next Liberal leader and 14th premier of the province will be announced on Aug. 4.
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
