A Plan To Lift Canadians Out Of Poverty

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Autumn in Canada is filled with coloured leaves, cooler temperatures and harvests. It’s also the time of year when the Federal Government starts preparing its budget for the next fiscal year. There’s an annual window of opportunity for giving the government advice about what should be in that budget. And the Canadian Centre For Policy Alternatives annually publishes its Alternative Federal Budget (AFB) during this time period.

This year’s AFB leads off with housing and homelessness. Here are a few of the proposed measures:

  • curbs on windfall profits from housing speculation in the private market (rental and ownership)
  • support to non-profit and co-operative housing providers to add to Canada’s supply of non-market housing (acquisition and new build)
  • substantial support for housing for Indigenous people living in urban, rural and northern communities and
  • additional program funding to end homelessness.

The AFB also includes measures to lift people with extremely low incomes out of poverty. The proposed program draws directly on the experience of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, which was rolled out during COVID1. It will directly support working age adults, putting special emphasis on people who are more likely to have very low incomes including Indigenous people, Black people, people with disabilities, newcomers and single parents.

The AFB also proposes substantial changes to Canada’s climate change ‘plan.’ It includes support to retrofit/upgrade the existing housing stock. This is part of a larger shift in the workforce away from activities that contribute to climate change and toward those that will reduce emissions and the country’s carbon footprint.

Of course, no budget is complete without explaining where the money will come from to pay for the planned expenditures. The AFB proposes several changes that would see people with extremely high incomes paying more than they are now. This includes corporations.

The AFB shows government, and the people who live here, that a different approach to public spending is possible. Canada has been living in a culture where poverty is considered an individual failure. The AFB demonstrates that poverty is a matter of policy choices. Done differently, no one needs to experience poverty in this country. It also demonstrates a route to shift the Canadian economy to one with a much lower carbon footprint.

This document is very specific to Canada, but it is an interesting strategy for opening up a conversation about government budget making in other countries. You can read the complete AFB at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives: Alternative Federal Budget 2023

Footnotes

  1. The Canada Emergency Response Benefit enabled Canada to meet its 2030 poverty reduction target 10 years early, in the midst of pandemic.