Federal Budget 2021 – Overview
OTTAWA – The first federal budget in more than two years extends Ottawa’s COVID-19 “lifeline” for workers and struggling businesses another few months as it aims to pull Canada through the pandemic once and for all.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s first crack at a budget plan is also widely viewed as a pre-election platform with more than $100 million in new spending over the next three years amid record-smashing deficits.
Canada’s debt is now over $1 trillion for the first time ever, after a $354 billion deficit for the pandemic year just over, and an expected deficit of $155 billion for fiscal 2021-22.
That is driven in part by more than $100 million in new spending over the next three years, including costs to maintain federal wage and rent subsidies and aid for laid-off workers, until September now, instead of cutting them off in June.
Freeland is also looking ahead to the post-pandemic Canada the Liberals want to see, one that has $10-a-day childcare, the ability to produce its own vaccines, national long-term care standards and small- and medium-sized businesses equipped with the workers and technology they need to survive.
All of it comes with a pandemic-sized asterisk that things could still change drastically if vaccine supplies are delayed or they prove not to work that well against emerging variants of the virus.
Highlights from the federal Liberal budget tabled Monday by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland;
$30 billion over the next five years, and $8.3 billion ongoing for early learning and child care and Indigenous early learning and child care. The plan would aim to see an average drop in fees next year by 50 per cent for preschooler daycare spaces and an average of $10-a-day care by 2026.
$3 billion over five years, starting in 2022-23, to Health Canada to support provinces and territories in improving standards for long-term care. The government says this funding will keep seniors safe and improve their quality of life.
$2.2 billion in Canada’s bio-manufacturing and life-sciences sector to rebuild Canada’s national capacity in bio-manufacturing and vaccine development and production.
Introducing legislation to establish a federal minimum wage of $15 per hour, rising with inflation, with provisions to ensure that where provincial or territorial minimum wages are higher, that wage will prevail.
A new Canada Recovery Hiring Program to provide eligible employers with a subsidy of up to 50 per cent on the incremental remuneration paid to eligible employees between June 6 and November 20. The program will provide $595 million to make it easier for businesses to hire back laid-off workers or to bring in new ones.
$17.6 billion towards a green recovery to create jobs, build a clean economy, and fight and protect against climate change.
$1 billion over six years, starting in 2021-22, to the Universal Broadband Fund to support a more rapid rollout of broadband projects in collaboration with provinces and territories and other partners.
$18 billion over the next five years to try to narrow the socio-economic gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, including $6 billion for infrastructure in Indigenous communities, and $2.2 billion to help end the tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
$2.5 billion and reallocate $1.3 billion in existing funding in order to help build, repair or support 35,000 housing units.
Introduce Canada’s first national tax on vacant property owned by non-residents.
Introducing a new tax on the sales, for personal use, of luxury cars and personal aircraft with a retail sales price over $100,000, and boats, for personal use, over $250,000.
Includes $100 million in new spending over the next three years.
Records a $155 billion deficit for 2021-22.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2021.
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A look at some of the promises you might have missed:
OTTAWA – The federal Liberal government’s first budget in more than two years makes big promises on child care, the environment and readying the country’s economy for a post-pandemic rebound. But there is also a veritable grab bag of smaller promises as well. Here are some of the more interesting;
$100 million over three years for innovative mental health interventions for populations disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, including health-care workers, front-line workers, youth, seniors, Indigenous people, and racialized and Black Canadians.
$50 million over two years for those suffering from PTSD and other mental-health trauma from COVID-19.
$28.6 million over five years, and $5.7 million per year ongoing, to address antimicrobial resistance.
$82.5 million this year to help Canadian airports better test for COVID-19, $6.7 million to acquire and use sanitization equipment, and $271 million for pandemic screening efforts.
$57.6 million to help employers offset the costs of isolating temporary foreign workers upon their arrival in Canada.
$656.1 million over five years, and $123.8 million ongoing, to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to modernize Canada’s borders, including touchless and automated systems, contraband detection systems and infrastructure security.
$9.9 million over two years for the Canadian Space Agency to plan the next generation of Earth-observation satellites.
$17.6 million over five years, and $3.4 million per year ongoing, to create a Data Commissioner that would help government and business protect people’s personal data and encourage innovation in the digital marketplace.
$60 million over the next two years to protect wetlands and trees on farms, and $10 million over the next two years to power farms with clean energy.
$25 million to the Northwest Territories to support the construction of 30 new public housing units across the territory, and $25 million to Nunavut to redevelop and refurbish about 100 new housing units.
$45 million over two years to pilot a program aimed at reducing veteran homelessness.
$200 million through the regional development agencies to support major festivals, and $200 million through Canadian Heritage to support local festivals, community cultural events, outdoor theatre performances, museums, amateur sport events, and more.
$500 million to create a tourism relief fund to support investments by local tourism businesses in adapting to and recovering from COVID-19.
$300 million over two years to establish a recovery fund for the heritage, arts, culture, heritage and sport sectors and $70 million over three years to help the live-music sector.
$21 million in 2021-22 to support CBC/Radio-Canada through the pandemic.
$39.3 million over two years to the book industry.
$101 million over two years to help wineries adapt to ongoing and emerging challenges.
$200 million to establish a fund to combat anti-Black racism and improve social and economic outcomes in Black communities.
$15 million over three years for a new fund to address challenges facing the LTBTQ community.
$116 million over two years to address the opioid epidemic and other substance-abuse concerns.
$45 million over three years to make sexual and reproductive health care information and services more accessible for vulnerable populations.
$15.4 million over two years to support the creation of a national autism strategy.
Notice that the government plans to start taxing vaping products, and a $4-per-carton increase on excise duties for cigarettes.
$14.9 million over four years to support the preservation of Indigenous heritage through Library and Archives Canada.
$14.3 million over five years to ensure Indigenous women and girls have access to sports activities.
$126.7 million over three years to prevent racism and discrimination in health-care systems. This funding will support patient advocates, health system navigators, and cultural safety training for medical professionals.
$74.8 million over three years to improve access to justice for Indigenous people and address systemic discrimination and the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the justice system.
$13.4 million over five years, with $2.4 million ongoing, to commemorate the history and legacy of residential schools.
$180.4 million over three years to support student bilingualism across the country.
$312 million over five years, and $41.4 million ongoing, to implement legislation targeting gun violence, smuggling and trafficking.
$85.3 million over five years to support independent legal advice and representation for victims of sexual assault, as well as to support pilot projects for victims of intimate partner violence.
$20.7 million over five years for the RCMP to pursue online child sexual exploitation investigations.
$40.4 million over five years, and $10 million ongoing, to support up to 25 additional drug treatment courts.
$75 million over five years, and $13.5 million ongoing, to the RCMP to combat systemic racism through new recruitment and training processes, community engagement and other measures.
$154.6 million to limit the spread of COVID-19 in federal correctional institutions.
$5.6 million over five years to commemorate the victims of Ukraine International Airlines PS752 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, including through the development of scholarships.
Save $1.1 billion over five years, and $222.5 million per year ongoing, by cutting back on government travel.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Apr. 19, 2021.
(The Canadian Press)
