Here’s our take on yesterday’s federal budget
Stop the presses: Banks and insurance companies that raked in excess corporate profits during the pandemic will now face a new tax on those profits. That’s one of many highlights from yesterday’s federal budget.
But there shouldn’t be much panic at the country club: a lot of other corporations that also reaped excess profits during the pandemic, including many in the oil and gas sector, dodged having to contribute more to the cost of recovery.
As always, the CCPA’s team of policy experts pored over the budget document so you don’t have to. 🙂 They were also providing live analysis on radio, TV, in newspapers and online news sites.
We wanted to see a bolder budget
We hoped to see bolder action on a number of fronts, including the climate emergency, long-term care reform (COVID-19 made clear the desperate need for a better system), more health care investments to deal with pandemic pressures, income security, better supports for people with disabilities.
The federal budget delivers on the NDP demand for dental care, starting with children under 12. That’s an important win. But it kicked pharmacare down the road, once again. And Canadians are desperate for more affordable housing; the budget delivers on some fronts but there’s room to go bolder.
On climate change, the federal government seems to want to have it both ways: yes, there are investments to support the adoption of zero-emission vehicles but it’s also investing in a new offshore oil rig at a moment in history when Canada needs to kick its oil addiction as part of our effort to save the planet.
We cover those issues and more in our budget analysis—click the button below to get there!
Read the Federal Budget Analysis Here