While applauding the provincial government’s new investments in child care, stakeholders and advocates say affordable housing commitments have missed the mark.
Finance Minister Selina Robinson released Budget 2022 on Tuesday, billing it as an inclusive and sustainable document that “delivers action today with a plan for tomorrow.”
It shows the government inching towards its commitment to $10-per-day child care, with an average cost of $20 per day expected by the end of 2022 — a fee reduction of about 50 per cent.
The province also plans to cut the average fees for preschool, and before and after-school care to less than $20 a day in time for the 2023-2024 school year.
“Child care really was the big bright spot in this budget,” said Alex Hemingway, senior economist and public finance policy analyst at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in B.C.
“Allowing more young parents — and disproportionately women — who take on child-care responsibilities at home, this is opening up possibilities for them to reenter the workforce.”
Hemingway said the fee reductions will not only reduce cost pressure on struggling families, but potentially pay for themselves through an injection of more workers into the economy, leading to increased revenues.
2:27 B.C. budget allocates millions to tackle homeless crisis
B.C. budget allocates millions to tackle homeless crisis
The government aims to have $10-a-day child care in place across the board by the end of March in 2026. It plans to create 30,000 new child care spaces for children under six within five years, and 40,000 within seven years.
In the near future, Budget 2022 will invest $11 million in the Aboriginal Head Start program, which provides inclusive, culture-centred child care for Indigenous peoples, and put $80 million toward improving training and wages for early childhood educators.
The province will also add 130 more early childhood educator seats to post-secondary institutions annually.
“This is significant spending and it’s all moving us towards a child-care system that we need,” said Sharon Gregson of the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC.
“This is a year I think parents are really going to see an impact around affordability and we’re going to start to see some serious expansion.”
The provincial government has put an additional $166 million toward its goal of delivering 114,000 affordable homes, bringing the annual housing investment to more than $1.2 billion by 2024/2025. The pot will provide $100 million to non-profit housing providers in the current fiscal year to speed up construction of mixed-income housing.
The province is also adding $8 million to the $2 billion promised in 2021 for HousingHub, which works with community, governments, non-profit and private sector partners to create new affordable rental housing and homeownership options for middle-income residents.
1:07 B.C. to invest in transit upgrades as part of 2022 budget
B.C. to invest in transit upgrades as part of 2022 budget
Jill Atkey, CEO of the BC Non-Profit Housing Association, applauded a $633-million expansion in critical supports to those experiencing homelessness.
Budget 2022, however, lacks mention of an acquisition strategy to protect existing affordable homes, she added, and fails to adapt and innovate to the changing conditions of the housing market.
“We’re disappointed that those waiting for an affordable home will need to wait longer, because this budget accelerated planned spending on only 850 of the 10,000 affordable homes currently lined up and awaiting funding,” she said in a Tuesday release.
“The sooner they’re funded, the sooner people can move in.”
According to the BC Non-Profit Housing Association, three affordable homes are lost in the private sector for every single home built in the community housing sector.
Hemingway said the scale of affordable housing investment in Budget 2022 will not keep pace with the needs of British Columbians, who are increasingly finding themselves priced out of both the housing and rental markets.
“This is terrible for renters and households experiencing this situations, it’s also bad for businesses who have difficulty recruiting workers who can’t find housing near their workplace, or even the region of the province where they’re looking for workers,” he explained.
3:24 B.C. budget commits $3.2 billion for a stronger health and mental health care system
B.C. budget commits $3.2 billion for a stronger health and mental health care system
Building more affordable housing units doesn’t have to pose an exorbitant cost to taxpayers, he explained. Just as private sector developers recoup their costs by charging tenants rent, the B.C. government could significantly scale up its development with the same prudent, self-financing approach.
“The benefit when you do that publicly is the government has lower financing costs than the private sector that can help bring down rents, and the government doesn’t have to turn a profit on housing investment. That can bring down the rents,” he told Global News.
“Over the long-term, that means you’ve brought new affordable housing units that can stay permanently affordable because they’re in the non-market public system.”
According to Robinson, Budget 2022 includes the “largest affordable housing investment in B.C. history,” when investments in combatting homelessness, complex care housing, rent supplements for low-income earners and student housing are included.
The province is introducing $600-a-month rent supplements for more than 3,000 people over the next three years to help them become stably housed and adding 20 more complex care sites throughout B.C. in the next three years.
The province will also invest $264 million over three years in extending housing support for up to 3,000 people who were in leased or purchased hotel spaces during the pandemic, and helping them transition to permanent housing.
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets climbed to their best week of the year.
“It’s been almost a complete opposite or retracement of what we saw last week,” said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
While last week saw a “healthy” pullback on weaker economic data, this week investors appeared to be buying the dip and hoping the central bank “comes to the rescue,” said Petursson.
Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its key interest rate for the first time in several years after it significantly hiked it to fight inflation.
But the magnitude of that first cut has been the subject of debate, and the market appears split on whether the cut will be a quarter of a percentage point or a larger half-point reduction.
Petursson thinks it’s clear the smaller cut is coming. Economic data recently hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been that bad either, he said — and inflation may have come down significantly, but it’s not defeated just yet.
“I think they’re going to be very steady,” he said, with one small cut at each of their three decisions scheduled for the rest of 2024, and more into 2025.
“I don’t think there’s a sense of urgency on the part of the Fed that they have to do something immediately.
A larger cut could also send the wrong message to the markets, added Petursson: that the Fed made a mistake in waiting this long to cut, or that it’s seeing concerning signs in the economy.
It would also be “counter to what they’ve signaled,” he said.
More important than the cut — other than the new tone it sets — will be what Fed chair Jerome Powell has to say, according to Petursson.
“That’s going to be more important than the size of the cut itself,” he said.
In Canada, where the central bank has already cut three times, Petursson expects two more before the year is through.
“Here, the labour situation is worse than what we see in the United States,” he said.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the technology, base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets also fell.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 239.24 points at 22,749.04.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 312.36 points at 40,443.39. The S&P 500 index was down 80.94 points at 5,422.47, while the Nasdaq composite was down 380.17 points at 16,747.49.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.80 cents US compared with 74.00 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down US$1.07 at US$68.08 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.26 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$2.10 at US$2,541.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down four cents at US$4.10 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in technology, financial and energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also pushed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 171.41 points at 23,298.39.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 278.37 points at 41,369.79. The S&P 500 index was up 38.17 points at 5,630.35, while the Nasdaq composite was up 177.15 points at 17,733.18.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.19 cents US compared with 74.23 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up US$1.75 at US$76.27 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.10 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$18.70 at US$2,556.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.22 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.
