The recession is not only making an already bad affordable housing crisis worse, but it is also delivering a critical blow to Canada's non-profit sector. The non-profit sector is a vital web of health, education, housing, community services, recreation, culture, and faith groups that enriches our communities and makes a major contribution to our economy, contributing five times more to Canada's GDP than auto manufacturing.
As the recession deepens, community-based health, housing, and social services are being asked to deliver critically important services with reduced grants and donations. Our partners throughout Canada tell us that hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of organizations will collapse under the fiscal and service pressures of the recession.
Governments in Britain and the United States, to name just two, recognize that the community sector is vital to the health of a nation and its communities. Canada's federal government is lagging far behind, and the community sector is suffering from a lack of effective partnership at the federal level.
Two days ago, a newspaper column by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had this headline: “Investing in innovation will fuel Canada's economic growth”. That's true in the private sector and it's also true in the community sector. Just as Canada needs a comprehensive national housing plan that engages all the actors, the federal government also needs a comprehensive community innovation plan.
We can learn a great deal from the successes and failures overseas, as we build a made-in-Canada plan. In the meantime, the next federal budget should include a substantial investment in community innovation, including $150 million for a national social innovation fund for social purpose ventures; $50 million for a national community innovation fund for non-profit enterprises; and $15 million for a new national health equity fund to invest in innovative community-based, multi-sectoral demonstration projects.
Thank you.