Issues
Protecting Canadian Jobs
From the COVID pandemic to today’s trade war, Canada’s economy has suffered recent crises that revealed deep vulnerabilities. Even before these recent shocks, Canadian manufacturing has been in decline for decades.
Governments around the world are turning toward industrial policy to regrow industrial sectors. With the U.S. now an unreliable economic and trade partner, Canada must become more self-reliant and self-dependent, utilizing its resource wealth to create a more prosperous and resilient economy.
Trade, Tariffs and Canada-U.S. Relations
The unprovoked threat by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on Canadian goods, the need to invoke stronger border controls, and contemplating Canada as the “51st State” has sparked a national reaction.
Unions have long said that free trade and deregulation leads to job losses and outsourcing. We need to focus on strategies that grow jobs and secure investments here at home.
The federal government has so far put up a strong response to the tariffs, but it’s not enough to go tit-for-tat with Trump. The next phase of our national response needs to be to Trump-proof our economy for years to come. We need an economic playbook that puts workers first.
EI and Income Supports
Employment Insurance (EI) is the most important economic stabilizer for workers in times of job loss, training, or transition. But most unemployed people in Canada aren’t eligible for benefits, and the benefits don’t provide enough income.
Workers need EI fixes now to mitigate the impacts of tariffs as well as comprehensive improvements to the program.
Affordability
Canada is still in the midst of an affordability crisis. Some federal programs like $10-a-Day child care are making a big difference, but there’s still more to be done.
Health Care
Canada’s public health care system is being eroded through privatization, understaffing and underfunding. The federal government is responsible for providing adequate funding and also for setting priorities and enforcing the Canada Health Act, like ensuring patients are not charged out of pocket fees for services including testing.
Canada’s next government can do more. We should continue to expand pharmacare and dental care coverage.
Housing
Canada’s housing crisis is the result of a number of factors, including a lack of adequate supply, “financialization,” which treats housing as an investment opportunity and stagnant wages in the face of inflation and rising costs.
In recent years, the federal government has made housing a top priority. Canada needs more homes. The federal government should commit to making massive, long-term, sustainable investments.
Gender-Based Violence
Gender based violence (GBV) is on the rise and needs to be treated as a public health crisis. The federal government has an important role to play in preventing GBV while supporting survivors and their communities. Governments allocate resources and develop laws that can prevent and address the causes and consequences of GBV.
To date, the government of Nova Scotia and 99 municipalities across Ontario have declared intimate partner violence an epidemic. It’s time for the federal government to do the same.
