I think it's incredibly misguided not to have these as part of what I call the “fiscal tool kit”.
I voiced some disagreement from Mr. Wudrick and Mr. Moody, but I will echo their call for a budget. I know that one is coming, but I agree that it's unacceptable that we've been two years without a budget. A budget should have come out, even though it was early days of the pandemic, to state that although there's a high degree of uncertainty, here's what we think we're actually going to do.
There was a lot of goodwill on the part of Canadians for the government muddling its way through, as long as it was doing what it could to support people. If the government does not maintain those supports going forward, it risks letting a lot of people start to fall through the cracks. Even as the economy, the macroeconomy, looks like it's recovering, there will be lot of people left behind in that recovery.
We've heard talk about this K-shaped recovery, in which some people are weathering the situation just fine. As a report from Canadians for Tax Fairness showed, through the first three quarters of 2020, 34 of 100 corporations that we looked at had record profits, so while the economy for most people was not great, for some it was excellent.
We need to use all of the tools that are available to us—like wealth taxes, like excess profit taxes—in order to keep the money moving and ensure that the support exists for those who otherwise will fall through the cracks.