The coming 2023 federal budget will “exercise fiscal restraint” while also making “significant” investments in Canada’s health-care system and building a clean economy, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday.
In a speech detailing the Liberal government’s priorities ahead of next week’s budget release, Freeland said the budget will include “targeted inflation relief” to help Canadians who are most acutely feeling the pinch as a result of rising prices.
This echoed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s commitment last week that the massive fiscal document being tabled will include affordability measures meant to “directly help Canadians.”
Though, with the federal government remaining mindful of the need to not pour fuel on the fire of inflation, Freeland is vowing to “exercise fiscal restraint.”
“This support will be narrowly focused and fiscally responsible. The truth is, we can’t fully compensate every single Canadian for all of the effects of inflation or for elevated interest rates,” Freeland said. “To do so would only make inflation worse and force rates higher, for longer.”
Addressing the state of the Canadian economy, the finance minister touted Canada’s near-record low unemployment rate post-COVID-19 recession, but admitted that inflation is “still too high.”
She said that higher interest rates are having their intended impact of slowing the economy down, however that means the federal government’s revenues are lower, and no longer in a place where the massive pandemic-era support programs can be sustained.
“Our ability to spend is not infinite,” Freeland said, pointing to existing supports for lower-income Canadians as an appropriate place to focus specific cost-of-living efforts.
Speaking about what she said she’s heard from Canadians during her pre-budget consultations, the finance minster spoke about how, whether she was talking to someone doing well or struggling to get by they shared a common concern for their neighbours.
“What Canadians want right now is for inflation to come down and for interest rates to fall. And that is one of our primary goals in this year’s budget: not to pour fuel on the fire of inflation.”
PRIORITY SPENDING ON HEALTH AND CLEAN ECONOMY
She signalled that with economic prudence in mind, the 2023 federal budget will still be prioritizing “two significant and necessary investments”: health-care funding and building Canada’s clean economy.
Freeland confirmed that as expected, the budget will include the one-year, $196-billion health-care funding deals recently secured with all provinces and territories, and the $2-billion one-time top-up to the Canada Health Transfer to address urgent pressures being experienced at pediatric hospitals, emergency rooms and surgical centres.
“We will ensure that Canadians can rely on a world-class, publicly-funded health-care system… And we will ensure that a strong and effective public health-care system can continue to care for and nurture a strong and healthy Canadian workforce,” Freeland said. “Universal and high-quality health care is rightly a priority for every single Canadian. It is also a national competitive advantage.”
As for what kinds of clean economy investments are ahead, Freeland was light on specifics in Monday’s speech, but it’s expected that it will include measures aimed at ensuring Canadian companies can be resilient in the face of a challenging economic landscape and competitive global markets.
A top concern in this regard is the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act, which has the Americans investing heavily in clean energy and net-zero industries.
Freeland said this global pivot to clean technology, and the recently-put-into-focus need to build critical supply chains with allied democracies in light of the pandemic and Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, has Canada uniquely placed to benefit.
“These two fundamental shifts represent a huge economic opportunity for all of us… Because Canadian workers and Canadian businesses have the necessary expertise, and because Canada produces what the world needs,” Freeland said.
She set this up as a clear choice in her mind: Canada can either capitalize on this historic opportunity, or be left behind as other countries seize the call for a clean economy.
“That’s why the plan we will release next Tuesday will include a serious investment in Canadians, in good jobs, in more vibrant communities, and in a new era of economic prosperity that we will build together,” Freeland said. “We will build a Canadian economy that is more sustainable, more secure, and more affordable.”
Taking a shot at the Conservatives’ call for the 2023 federal budget to present a plan to cut taxes and spending, Freeland called it a “reckless approach.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
