People in Canada receive income in multiple ways, and income security supports are delivered in multiple ways. Each of those programs serves a different purpose. None of them should be abandoned. Many of them should be improved substantially. We saw with the implementation of CERB a recognition that $2,000 a month might be a kind of bear minimum to get people through a short-term crisis in their personal life, and many people were going through it at the same time. The $2,000 a month was a choice that was made that seems to address that fact.
Are there programs that need to be improved to meet that basic level? Yes, including looking at social assistance across the country, which is within provincial jurisdiction, but also employment insurance reform, and making sure that folks who are unemployed actually can access employment insurance, and then also making sure that the replacement rate is high enough and that the income is high enough to support them through a crisis.
In addition to that, we would look to a $15 or higher minimum wage so that people who are working full-time and people who are working part-time can meet their basic needs. Right now, we're seeing that our members across the country in low wage jobs are just unable to do that. Part of it is because the minimum wage is very low, and the other part is that they're working part-time in precarious jobs and maybe don't have access to health insurance and other things. Then we bring in all of the other supports that come into play like universal child care and universal pharmacare. That addresses the affordability issue, so that instead of it coming out of pocket, it's coming out of us, collectively through our taxes. Those are a few things that I would start with.