The Liberal’s spring economic update demonstrates the true character of this government. Having secured a majority in parliament with only 27 percent of support from eligible voters, Carney has been emboldened to unleash an updated budget that will hit working people hard while pleasing investors.
With 100,000 workers having lost their jobs in January and February alone, and official unemployment at 6.7 percent and nearly 14 percent for youth, working people expected the economic update to include action to create jobs. The government could have announced an emergency housing plan to build and provide affordable and accessible publicly owned housing, which would create tens of thousands of well-paid jobs while directly confronting the deepening housing crisis.
Ottawa could also have combined job creation with action on the climate justice front. Nationalizing the job-shedding steel industry and building an extensive publicly owned and operated high-speed rail network would generate long-term employment in the manufacturing, maintenance and service sectors, while also taking concrete action for environmental security.
For the 1.5 million officially unemployed workers in Canada, the government could have announced sweeping improvements to EI, so that it covers all workers, is non-contributory and provides benefits at 90 percent of previous earnings for the duration of unemployment.
But instead of these actions that would help working people, the economic update is another round of deep cuts to help pay for a war budget and Canada’s support for NATO’s new arms race.
Healthcare in particular is under attack with this update, paving the way for privatization. It appears as though the pharmacare program that the Liberals introduced in 2024 under Trudeau with the support of the NDP will be wound down by 2029. Medical professionals have sounded the alarm about the reduction in the annual Canada Health Transfers increases from 5 percent to 3 percent, which experts say will fail to even maintain the deteriorated conditions of Canada’s healthcare system. Another $1.2 billion in annual transfers to provinces for the purpose of mental health care, addiction services and long-term care will also be slashed. As the healthcare crisis in the country continues to deepen, the effects of this disinvestment will put lives in danger across the country but especially in rural areas where ER closures are becoming commonplace.
Earlier promises made by the Liberal government to expand affordable childcare are also being dialed back, with what amounts to budget cuts once the sector’s inflationary costs are factored in. The strain that working parents have been living under will see no relief from this government. A universal childcare system would create the opportunities for children to begin age-appropriate education earlier while allowing mothers to return to the work force.
Another topic for discussion was the announcement of the Canada Strong Fund (CSF). Carney described the CSF as a sovereign wealth fund, invoking Norway’s Government Pension Fund, which neglects public services in favour of foreign investments into the global military industrial complex. Unlike Norway’s fund, however, which is fed with profits from energy exports, Carney is putting forward a fund that will be seeded with $25 billion dollars of public money. This money will be used to “de-risk” private investments by simply transferring the risk to Canadian taxpayers. The people pay and the corporations profit.
Another distinction from Norway’s fund is that CSF is meant to support domestic projects that are deemed to be of national importance. At the same time, the government is emphasizing investor return. The problem lies in the fact that the public interest rarely if ever aligns with interests of corporate monopolies. This calls into question the true purpose of the CSF.
To keep this fund growing, Carney’s plan is to utilize “asset optimization” or “asset recycling,” terms that indicate the Liberals’ plan to sell off of public infrastructure to the private sector. This will have the effect of transforming public infrastructure into profit making endeavours at the expense of working people. If history is any indicator, we can bet on these public assets being sold off below market rate, subsidizing the private sector while the cost of living for the majority of people in Canada will continue to rise dramatically. It is nothing other than a large-scale transfer of public wealth into the pockets of corporate monopolies.
What we need in Canada is to stop and reverse the privatization of public services, to redirect our ballooning war budget towards healthcare, education and public infrastructure that will meet the needs of all people while creating good paying unionized jobs. We need to nationalize the energy sector and begin the transition to renewable energy for the sake of both the planet and the economy.
Working people in Canada don’t need a government that cynically invokes language of independence and “protecting sovereignty” as cover for policies that shift enormous wealth from the working class to huge private corporations. Rather, they need a government that stands up for people’s sovereignty by ending Canada’s current trade, political and military relationship in which Washington dominates and Ottawa obeys.
This means speaking up against the US attacks on the sovereignty of other countries and nations including Palestine, Iran, Mexico, Panama, Greenland, Venezuela and Cuba. It means speaking up for the sovereignty and equality of nations within Canada – Indigenous nations, Quebec and Acadia – and forging unity on the basis of equality within a voluntary partnership.
People’s sovereignty means withdrawing from USMCA, NATO and NORAD, and instituting independent trade, industrial and foreign policies that are based on full employment, climate justice, peace and disarmament. This includes updating provincial trade regulations to strengthen workers’ health and safety, and the safety of food and other goods transported into and across Canada, rather than promoting a “free trade” regime inside the country that will only benefit big corporations.
Independence and “protecting sovereignty” means rejecting corporate rule, from a foreign power but also from within Canada, and building independent democratic institutions that can defeat the drive to war and reaction, and to put the needs of people and the planet before corporate power and profit.
Analysis from Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada
Support working-class media!
If you found this article useful, please consider donating to People’s Voice or purchasing a subscription so that you get every issue of Canada’s leading socialist publication delivered to your door or inbox!
For over 100 years, we have been 100% reader-supported, with no corporate or government funding.
