Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thanks as well to the clerk and the committee staff, the interpreters and the committee members for the opportunity to join you here today.
I am Ken Neumann, the national director for Canada for the United Steelworkers Union. Our union represents more than 825,000 workers in North America, including 225,000 workers in virtually every economic sector and region of Canada. I would like to add our voice to acknowledge the history that was made when Minister Freeland became the first woman to table a budget in Canada. It's well past due.
Another historic piece of this budget is the scope of the need people across Canada are facing. COVID-19 has hit and is still hitting people very hard. As a union, we are focused every day on fighting for our members, fighting to keep them safe and secure in their jobs. We also serve them by fighting to make Canada a stronger, fairer and more equitable place. By raising the bar for everyone, we can keep raising it even higher at the bargaining table. That's the lens we used to look at Bill C-30.
If you forget about pharmacare—because the Liberal government did—this big budget can look as though there is a little something here for almost everyone. That includes some important changes that improve labour standards, stop contract-flipping in airports, provide for a federal minimum wage and increase protection for some pensions. We are very happy to see changes that we were calling for. Of course, we're hopeful to see the promise of child care become a reality.
In between a lot of big spending, the government has failed to get some of the big things right. COVID-19 made major holes in programs such as employment insurance impossible to ignore. The changes that were brought in to fix EI during the pandemic, including creating a federal role in paid sick days, should be made permanent, not cancelled before COVID-19 is even behind us.
The budget barely scratches the surface of making the ultra-wealthy pay their share. While the government is slashing CRB supports by 40% from their CERB levels, they're doing nothing to claw back money from some big corporations that, in bad faith, took money through the wage subsidy program. By not going retroactive, the Liberals are letting big businesses that threw people out of work and handed big bonuses to bosses and shareholders off the hook.
The budget does include some good skills training and retraining programs, but too often it seems that protecting jobs was an afterthought. The government needs to connect the dots when it comes to creating a real industrial and job creation strategy. With a supply chain that brings materials and parts back and forth across the border, there are more workers involved in the auto industry than auto workers. In all the talk about zero-emission vehicles, there is no explicit strategy tied to that supply chain.
Obviously there is a lot of potential in the $15 billion promised for public transit, but where will the materials be sourced? As with other infrastructure announcements and commitments in this budget, there are no requirements to use domestically manufactured materials. There are no sustainability and emissions conditions either.
Knowing where our steel, aluminum and other products are from is crucial to the development of a North American approach to procurement and infrastructure, which is how we get an exemption to the buy America provisions. To that end, we are advocating for a North American “buy clean” strategy, which would prioritize the environmental impact of materials used in construction projects.
A recent buy clean report prepared by Blue Green Canada shows that steel, aluminum, cement and wood products produced here in Canada have some of the lowest carbon emissions in the entire world. This strategic approach would allow Canadians workers to benefit from President Biden's massive infrastructure, environment and jobs investment.
You have a partner with the United Steelworkers in working with the Biden administration to make that strategy a reality. From the carbon border adjustments to improving worker access to Canada’s trade remedy system, we look forward to consultations on border measures that are tied to clear procurement strategies that maintain and create jobs.
Before the budget was tabled, I said that it needed to support everyday people and help make sure that workers have jobs to support their families today and into the future. With some important changes, I believe it can be done. This budget tries in many ways to look like it is doing a lot towards that end.
Again, I thank you for the opportunity to be with you today, and George and I look forward to any questions that you may have.