After the coronaviruspandemic descended on Canada in March, hundreds of companies shuttered, thousands of people lost their jobs and the nation’s gross domestic product fell 8.2 per cent in the first quarter — the worst quarterly showing since 2009.
The virus also laid bare stark inequities in health care for marginalized and racialized communities, proving that some people are harder hit by the virus and its economic impact. Earlier this month, Global News reported a strong association between high rates of COVID-19 and low income, visible minority status and low levels of education in cities like Toronto.
Now, as the economy begins to reopen, there could be a chance for Canada to undergo deep economic and social reform, ensuring no one gets left behind in the new, post-pandemic economy.
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Fifty-nine per cent of Canadians are optimistic the country will work together to ensure everyone is included in this recovery, according to new data by Ipsos.
However, experts worry life will remain relatively unchanged for marginalized people.
“What COVID-19 is showing us is nothing new … it’s simply amplifying a lot of things we already knew,” said Kathy Hogarth, an assistant professor in the school of social work at Renison University College.
“All COVID-19 did was amplify those who are in the margins and their poor outcomes of health.”
This is due to the social determinants of health: social and economic factors like income, discrimination and access to quality food, health care and education, all of which can impact a person’s health and how long they will live.
4:40 Books to support discussions on race and activism with children
Books to support discussions on race and activism with children
“We can see that COVID-19 is hitting communities that are socially and economically marginalized or disadvantaged hardest,” Nicholas King, a McGill University associate professor who studies public health policy and ethics, previously told Global News.
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King says this impact has to do with a number of “structural disadvantage or cumulative disadvantage” factors, including living in “high-density” environments and working certain jobs deemed essential during the pandemic.
“They have families to support, and now their occupations have been deemed essential,” King said of people living in such communities. “They have to go to work both to put food on the table and also because they’re in jobs where they still will be going to work.”
Is now the time for radical change?
The majority of Canadians (59 per cent) are optimistic all groups will be included equally in the recovery process, the poll suggested.
To conduct the data, Ipsos spoke to 1,450 Canadians 18 years and older online.
Women (63 per cent) and people born between 1997 and 2012 (75 per cent) — or Generation Z — are the most likely to think recovery will be equal and inclusive of all groups.
1:11 Toronto to re-prioritize city resources to improve social determinants of health
Toronto to re-prioritize city resources to improve social determinants of health
When it comes to making radical social and economic change, 52 per cent of respondents believe the pandemic is the perfect opportunity to better prepare Canada for the future. However, 48 per cent of Canadians believe now is not the time for change, but rather a focus on “getting back to normal.”
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However, 41 per cent of Canadians believe it’s “inevitable” that there will be an uneven recovery, creating “winners” and losers” of the pandemic.
“We know that many of our racialized bodies are in precarious positions, whether it’s precarious employment or precarious housing, and we see all of this complicating the health outcomes for these bodies,” she said.
Unfortunately, Canada has yet to collect data about the disparities between communities when it comes to health care, access to social services and more.
Until we are able to get the data and analyze the differences based on race, said Hogarth, we won’t understand why this is happening — or how to fix it.
How the pandemic amplified Black voices
It’s not a coincidence that worldwide protests against anti-Black racism and police brutality are happening during a global pandemic, said Hogarth. In fact, the two are intimately connected.
Black and other racialized people are more likely to have precarious employment in jobs deemed essential during the shutdown. This forced Black Canadians to leave their homes when people were told to stay home, making them more vulnerable to contracting the virus.
5:02 How racial tensions are straining Black mental health
How racial tensions are straining Black mental health
And then, amid all of this, Black people were forced to look on as video circulated of a Minneapolis police officer using his knee to pin down George Floyd, a Black man, as he cried out for air and lay dying.
“Black bodies had to deal with (the virus) in a way different than other bodies, then we had to witness another assault,” Hogarth said.
“By witnessing that act of brutality, all the injustices faced by Black bodies during COVID-19 were laid bare.”
The protests in support of Black people won’t have any lasting impact until governments step up to the plate, Hogarth said.
“By in large, history tells us there is a rhythm to social movement … We’ve seen the rise and fall of social movements. This one is going to be no different,” Hogarth said.
Sustained change would only be possible if Canada were collecting race-based health data, she said.
“If we have no data, we have no problem. If we have no problem, we need no solutions.”
Economist Michael Stepner agrees. A new faculty member at the University of Toronto, Stepner recently launched a real-time tracker of the U.S. economy designed to give policymakers up-to-date data.
“Canadian governments have hesitated to collect and release data on the racial breakdown of COVID-19 cases and deaths,” Stepner said.
“Measuring these disparities is only a first step toward ameliorating them, so it is unfortunate that our governments have delayed taking even that small step.”
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‘Equity-based approach’ to recovery
The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) pays $2,000 every four weeks to workers who have lost all of their income as a result of COVID-19.
The benefit is open both to Canadians who qualify for employment insurance (EI) and those who don’t, including employees who don’t have enough work hours to meet EI requirements and the self-employed.
This means everyone — regardless of their original salary, race, sex, gender or age — is getting the same amount of money, and Hogarth says that’s not good enough when it comes to helping racialized groups.
“Equity is not equality. When we give everybody the same thing, we are absolutely missing the point, because everybody doesn’t start at the same place,” Hogarth said.
She is calling for an equity-based approach to financial support, especially in the time immediately after the economy begins to reopen.
“The changes needed right now are not about all communities getting the same thing,” she said. “It’s looking at where the greatest disparities are and who is hardest hit.”
Without considering people’s starting points, the Canadian government will “continue to widen the gap in equity,” Hogarth said.
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Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus.
In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus.
For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here.
— With files from Global News’ Emerald Bensadoun & Allison Vuchnich
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VICTORIA – British Columbia is forecasting a record budget deficit and a rising debt of almost $129 billion less than two weeks before the start of a provincial election campaign where economic stability and future progress are expected to be major issues.
Finance Minister Katrine Conroy, who has announced her retirement and will not seek re-election in the Oct. 19 vote, said Tuesday her final budget update as minister predicts a deficit of $8.9 billion, up $1.1 billion from a forecast she made earlier this year.
Conroy said she acknowledges “challenges” facing B.C., including three consecutive deficit budgets, but expected improved economic growth where the province will start to “turn a corner.”
The $8.9 billion deficit forecast for 2024-2025 is followed by annual deficit projections of $6.7 billion and $6.1 billion in 2026-2027, Conroy said at a news conference outlining the government’s first quarterly financial update.
Conroy said lower corporate income tax and natural resource revenues and the increased cost of fighting wildfires have had some of the largest impacts on the budget.
“I want to acknowledge the economic uncertainties,” she said. “While global inflation is showing signs of easing and we’ve seen cuts to the Bank of Canada interest rates, we know that the challenges are not over.”
Conroy said wildfire response costs are expected to total $886 million this year, more than $650 million higher than originally forecast.
Corporate income tax revenue is forecast to be $638 million lower as a result of federal government updates and natural resource revenues are down $299 million due to lower prices for natural gas, lumber and electricity, she said.
Debt-servicing costs are also forecast to be $344 million higher due to the larger debt balance, the current interest rate and accelerated borrowing to ensure services and capital projects are maintained through the province’s election period, said Conroy.
B.C.’s economic growth is expected to strengthen over the next three years, but the timing of a return to a balanced budget will fall to another minister, said Conroy, who was addressing what likely would be her last news conference as Minister of Finance.
The election is expected to be called on Sept. 21, with the vote set for Oct. 19.
“While we are a strong province, people are facing challenges,” she said. “We have never shied away from taking those challenges head on, because we want to keep British Columbians secure and help them build good lives now and for the long term. With the investments we’re making and the actions we’re taking to support people and build a stronger economy, we’ve started to turn a corner.”
Premier David Eby said before the fiscal forecast was released Tuesday that the New Democrat government remains committed to providing services and supports for people in British Columbia and cuts are not on his agenda.
Eby said people have been hurt by high interest costs and the province is facing budget pressures connected to low resource prices, high wildfire costs and struggling global economies.
The premier said that now is not the time to reduce supports and services for people.
Last month’s year-end report for the 2023-2024 budget saw the province post a budget deficit of $5.035 billion, down from the previous forecast of $5.9 billion.
Eby said he expects government financial priorities to become a major issue during the upcoming election, with the NDP pledging to continue to fund services and the B.C. Conservatives looking to make cuts.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the debt would be going up to more than $129 billion. In fact, it will be almost $129 billion.
NANAIMO, B.C. – Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says he’ll be advising the Liberal party to flip some the challenges posed by an increasingly divided and dangerous world into an economic opportunity for Canada.
But he won’t say what his specific advice will be on economic issues that are politically divisive in Canada, like the carbon tax.
He presented his vision for the Liberals’ economic policy at the party’s caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C. today, after he agreed to help the party prepare for the next election as chair of a Liberal task force on economic growth.
Carney has been touted as a possible leadership contender to replace Justin Trudeau, who has said he has tried to coax Carney into politics for years.
Carney says if the prime minister asks him to do something he will do it to the best of his ability, but won’t elaborate on whether the new adviser role could lead to him adding his name to a ballot in the next election.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says she has been taking advice from Carney for years, and that his new position won’t infringe on her role.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
