Finance Minister Bill Morneau was told weeks into the Liberals’ second mandate that Canadians are most worried about affordability in areas where governments have a lot of power over prices — particularly child care.
The Canadian Press obtained the November presentation through the Access to Information Act.
Though wage growth has stayed ahead of inflation over the past 15 years, officials told Morneau that the costs of “highly visible items” like child care, education, and prescriptions have surged faster.
The documents note that “differences in policy prioritization” among provinces have led to wide gaps in affordability and access to child care.
Morneau was also provided policy options, but the recommendations were not released because officials say they are sensitive government advice.
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The federal finance minister is weeks away from delivering his first budget of the Liberal government’s minority mandate, which he has said will prioritize climate change and easing Canadians’ worries about the cost of living.
1:36 Morneau says pre-budget consultations underway, talks with opposition parties will be ‘more robust’
Morneau says pre-budget consultations underway, talks with opposition parties will be ‘more robust’
Officials wrote that there is an argument to invest more in child care because of its connection to increases in women’s ability to work, and incomes.
The budget is supposed to include details on a Liberal campaign promise to create 250,000 before- and after-school care spaces. Combined with a pledge to cut fees by 10 per cent, the Liberals estimated the measures would cost $535 million a year.
The presentation can be seen as making a case for more government action in areas where costs are determined by public policy — unlike prices for things like clothes and gasoline, which are market-driven, said David Macdonald, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
“In that sense, affordability isn’t something the market can help with. Instead of getting government out of the way, we need to get it in the way of rising costs for Canadians,” said Macdonald, who studies the cost of child care in Canada.
2:04 Morneau says they’ll analyze proposal over possible changes to financial stabilization program
Morneau says they’ll analyze proposal over possible changes to financial stabilization program
Macdonald co-wrote a report in 2017 that surveyed child-care costs across the country. Although prices depend on the age of the child, spaces cost about $1,000 a month on average.
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But the variation was huge among provinces: in Quebec, where the government subsidizes child-care very heavily, median fees were under $200 a month; in Toronto, a space for a pre-schooler cost $1,212 a month and one for an infant was $1,758 a month.
There are also expectations the budget will increase the value of the Canada Child Benefit for children under age one, a pledge the parliamentary budget officer estimated would cost $252 million in its first year.
Garima Talwar Kapoor, policy and research director at Maytree, an anti-poverty foundation, said child benefits are critical to increasing family incomes, but it is less clear how much they address child-care costs.
“If I were in government and were trying to address the child-care affordability challenges that families face, I’d ask whether further investments in child benefits … alleviate child care concerns, or whether systemic responses to child-care spaces are needed,” she said.
Inflation in housing costs has stayed just behind median wage growth, helped by “downward pressures from falling interest rates” that have lowered the cost of ownership, the presentation said.
Costs remain high in many cities owing to a shortage of places to buy or rent, though.
1:59 Billions added to federal budget deficit
Billions added to federal budget deficit
Finance officials calculated Toronto is the most unaffordable city in Canada, followed closely by Vancouver, in an analysis that compared average weekly wages in 12 cities once adjusting for the cost of living in each place.
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Elsewhere in the country, there are “uncertain and regional effects of policy response on jobs and cost of living” when it comes to the federal approach to environmental concerns.
Looking ahead, about one-quarter of people nearing retirement might not have enough money to pay for their golden years, notably those without workplace pension plans, the document says. Meanwhile, even the expanded Canada Pension Plan may not “fully offset the decline in private pension coverage, leaving workers more exposed to risk.”
If people aren’t saving on their own for retirements, that might eventually reduce tax revenues coming into the federal treasury and increase money going out through old-age security payments, said Jennifer Robson, an associate professor of political management at Carleton University in Ottawa. That would be tough on the federal budget.
She said it’s not clear whether an expansion of the Canada Pension Plan — by raising benefit amounts but also premiums over time — will be enough.
“Government can actually do quite a lot for people at the bottom end who don’t have pensions,” Robson said, “but the ones that they tend to think about are the ones in the middle.”
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.
