FINA Committee Report

Budget 2017: NDP Pre-Budget Consultation Supplementary Report

Introduction

The New Democratic Party is once again pleased to have participated in the pre-budget consultations for Budget 2017. As elected representatives, we are proud to work on behalf of Canadians to support families, invest in communities, create opportunities for meaningful work, and make life more affordable. New Democrats believe that a balanced, sustainable, and fiscally responsible approach will ensure that we meet these goals—and we will advocate tirelessly for this approach to be reflected in Budget 2017.

The majority report contains many important summaries of witness testimony. Regrettably, the recommendations contained within the committee’s main report fail to present comprehensive solutions to the important issues raised in these hearings. The committee’s main findings have failed to introduce a clear path forward to meet the challenges we face.  Therefore, we respectfully present this supplementary report to give a voice to Canadians who are asking for substantive changes that will foster strong communities, sustainable growth, and social support throughout their careers and lives.

Solutions for All Canadians

As New Democrats, we believe that the Budget should uphold the interests of all Canadians. Based on our wide-spread pre-budgetary consultations, we propose changes that will ensure our society moves forward together. The government has a critical role to play in both creating economic prosperity through a thriving private sector and introducing policies that will support Canadian communities. New Democrats have heard from Canadians across the country that the government needs to introduce inclusive policies. We call on the government to act on the following recommendations so that every community and family is supported to achieve security and prosperity.

Supporting Aboriginal communities

Over the past year, we have seen a growing and troubling discord between the government’s rhetoric and their actions on respect for Indigenous communities – from approval of major industrial projects without adequate consultations, to land claim disputes, to the appalling conditions that many Indigenous communities live in, to the government’s ongoing discrimination against First Nations children. We call on the government to keep the promises they made to Indigenous communities. We therefore recommend that the federal government

• Invest $155 million in First Nations child welfare services to end racial discrimination in funding, as per the motion passed unanimously in the House of Commons;
• Honour the platform commitment of an additional $50 million per year for the Post-Secondary Student Support Program for Indigenous students;
• End the punitive 2 percent cap imposed on the growth of government spending on services for First Nation communities and establish a fair and equitable financial relationship to close the gap between First Nations communities and other Canadians;
• Increase investments in efforts and initiatives to revitalize Indigenous languages, including immersion programs.

Fostering Healthy Communities

In recent months, we learned that the Liberals intend to keep Stephen Harper’s cuts to the rate of health care transfers to provinces by keeping the funding escalator at three per cent, down from six per cent. We also learned that even though the Liberals promised an “immediate commitment” of 3 billion dollars dedicated to home care, this commitment was not in their first budget. We are calling on the government to take proactive measures to make health care for Canadians comprehensive, accessible and affordable. We recommend that the federal government

• Reverse the Conservatives’ cuts to health care transfers and restore the funding escalator in the next Health Accord;
• Increase compassionate care benefits to ensure that caregivers are eligible for a paid six-month leave to care for a gravely ill family member;
• Fund the delivery of expanded and improved home care for all Canadians, as promised by the Liberals in the 2015 federal election campaign.

Investing in economic growth, innovation, and accessible technologies

Economic growth continues to sputter and over the past year, full time jobs have disappeared while Canadians are increasingly forced into part-time and precarious work. Much more can be done to stimulate the economy, reduce inequality, enhance transparency and ensure public services remain out of the hands of private investors. We recommend that the federal government

• Eliminate the Employee Stock option deduction, which costs $800 million per year and almost exclusively benefits wealthy Canadians;
• Restore small business tax cuts, as promised in the Liberal Party platform, to encourage job creation;
• Lower the threshold for country-by-country reporting to $60 million, which will enhance transparency by requiring more multinational corporations to report financial information;
• Ensure that municipalities of all sizes can access necessary infrastructure funding, rather than compel them to adopt a public-private partnership or outsourcing model;
• Ensure stability in Canada’s forest sector by renegotiating the Softwood Lumber Agreement with the United States;
• Provide a fund to help deploy mobile internet coverage in communities that are poorly or not served, along with the existing funding for broadband internet;
• Undertake a comprehensive review of the Investment Canada Act in order to better protect Canadian workers and the national interest of Canada.

Ensuring stability and support for workers and families

Too many workers and families are living in poverty, young people are struggling to find work, and precarious work is becoming a reality for many Canadians. Throughout the past year, the government has failed to renew long-term operating agreements for affordable social housing, has announced enhancements to the Canadian Pension Plan that ignore the needs of women and people living with disabilities, and has refused to instate a federal minimum wage of $15. We recommend that the federal government

• Act immediately to address the social and affordable housing shortage in Canadian municipalities by renewing social housing agreements and by working towards the development and implementation of a rights-based National Housing Strategy;
• Ensure that the Employment Insurance fund is used solely for Employment Insurance benefits;
• Restore the extra five weeks of EI benefits for regions of high unemployment that were cut by the Conservative EI reforms and eliminate on-going backlogs in the social security tribunal and in service delivery;
• Ensure that the Canada Pension Plan enhancements include child-rearing drop out and disability drop out provisions to ensure that women and people living with disabilities are not penalized;
• Establish a federal minimum wage of $15 and begin addressing precarious work by ending unpaid internships;
• Support low-income Canadians by significantly increasing the Working Income Tax Benefit.

Involving Canadians in action against climate change

While the new federal government has brought changed rhetoric about climate change, they have not yet proposed any clear strategy or timelines for Canada to meet its Paris Agreement commitments to reduce emissions. We are concerned about the government’s ability to meet those commitments, particularly in light of recent approvals of natural resource extraction projects, as well as the decision to adopt the greenhouse gas reduction targets proposed by the previous Conservative government. We therefore recommend that the federal government

• Provide a clear strategy and timeline for the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies;
• Implement a well-designed, pan-Canadian carbon price that will result in emissions reductions and compensate the most vulnerable Canadians;
• Take more ambitious measures to conserve unique wildlife habitat, such as that of the endangered southern resident orcas of British Columbia;
• Restore the ecoENERGY Home Retrofit program with significant, long-term funding to create local jobs, reduce energy consumption and help Canadians lower their energy bills;
• Expand support for renewable energy and energy efficiency technology development and demonstration projects;
• Restore environmental protections that were dismantled by the previous government and remove all restrictions on public participation in environmental assessment processes.