Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pride to rise and speak to budget 2021, the maiden budget from the first woman to hold the title of finance minister. In fact, as many parliamentarians know, we usually get a hard copy of the budget handed to us as the finance minister would rise in the House to speak, but due to COVID, we had to make do with getting the online version. I hear there are hard copies available, and I am hoping to get my hands on one, because I definitely want the finance minister to autograph it because it is so historic.
Given how hard the pandemic has impacted Canadian women, I do feel it is appropriate that someone familiar with the challenges women face, both at home and on the job, is leading the course forward, but let me be perfectly clear: This is a budget that is good for all Canadians. It is forward-thinking, and the changes announced in the budget are what Canada needs as we navigate a new path through COVID and after we wrestle this pandemic to the ground.
I believe it is important for a government to always strive to do better, to make changes for the better. This means exploring and implementing new ideas, evaluating how things have been done and whether they can be improved, and adapting decades-old social support systems to meet the needs of today's families. This budget positions Canada for the future on all fronts and includes new ideas, but it also contains some that are not particularly new at all.
As we all know, we are currently facing the gravest global crisis since the Second World War. Over 75 years ago, many women, including many mothers, had to go to work in essential war industries to provide for their families and fill the labour shortage left by those, mostly men, who were in the services. From 1942 to 1946, the Dominion-Provincial Wartime Agreement allowed for subsidized day nursery care for mothers working in essential war industries. Costs were shared fifty-fifty between the federal government and participating provinces, and each province had its own standards and regulations.
Of course, at war's end, the centres closed as most women returned to working in the home, seemingly not needed to keep our economy humming. Also, many women were forced to leave their jobs when they got pregnant, which is exactly what happened to my mother when she became pregnant with my brother back in 1952.
Despite the changes in society, the debate for returning to subsidized day care did not disappear. In fact, it grew louder in the following decades as more and more women joined the workforce, so much so that it was included in the report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in 1970. I was a teenager at the time and was encouraged to expect my life to be different from my mother's. I was determined to have a career and a family, but it was not going to be easy. The Status of Women report dealt explicitly with making child care affordable and accessible, including making sure that fees would be affixed to a sliding scale based on the means of the parents.
Having been a working mother, I know very well that having one parent stay home to look after children or relying on family is not always an option. Our government has increased the Canada child benefit, which parents could choose to put toward day care, but in a city like London, where I am from, monthly child care fees average out to around $1,200 a child. Maybe that is doable for some families, if they have only one child, but as soon as they decide to have another, it becomes almost impossible to cover the costs.
Let us face it, although times have started to change, caring for children still primarily falls to female partners or mothers. We hear about how this pandemic will go down in history as the “she-cession”. Someone recently commented that maybe it would be better to call it the “mom-cession”, and I think they are right.
The economic impact of this pandemic has been felt most keenly by women, including marginalized women, not only because some have had to stay home from work to care for children, but also because industries dominated by female and marginalized workers have been among the hardest hit by measures introduced to keep our communities safe. This is in direct contrast to the recession of 2008, when it was male-dominated industries that were the hardest hit.
As we look to rebuild from this crisis and build back better, we must make sure we do so in a way that helps those who need it most. We need to make sure that women and marginalized communities can be fully engaged in the economy. TD Economics and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce are just two of the institutions that have separately stated that a national child care program will help facilitate this.
In fact, they say it is critical to do so. They say a child care program will add between $100 billion to $155 billion to Canada's GDP, because it will allow more engagement in the economy for women and marginalized communities. This is a sound investment based on recommendations made by reliable economic experts. Child care is no longer a social “nice to have”; it is now an economic “must have”.
Our government is also moving forward with strong investments in the charitable and not-for-profit sectors to continue supporting them during this difficult time.
The importance of this sector to Canada and the lives of everyday Canadians is incalculable. While our government made sure to expand emergency supports to the organizations in this sector, they still need help. Employing millions of Canadians, many of them women, these organizations provide critical services, from child care to fitness to education and community supports, to communities of all sizes.
We have all heard stories from our ridings about not-for-profits and charitable organizations that are hanging on by a thread through this pandemic. We have seen local branches of the YMCA close their doors. We have seen legions struggling. It is imperative that we step in to provide more support and strengthen this critical pillar of Canadian society.
Over the past year, I have worked with my colleagues in the government caucus and parliamentarians from the other place to draw attention to the critical plight charities and non-profits are facing. Budget 2021 delivered on our calls for support with $400 million to help these organizations adapt and modernize through the economic recovery.
It also proposes $755 million to establish a social finance fund, which could attract $1.5 billion in private sector capital to support the development of the social finance market, and that would be creating thousands of new jobs in the sector.
We are also proposing to launch public consultations with charities on potentially increasing the disbursement quota and updating the tools at the CRA's disposal regarding charities, which could increase support for the sector by $1 billion to $2 billion annually.
I am particularly focused on that last point as it responds to some of the recommendations made in a report released by the other place in 2019, called “Catalyst for Change: A Roadmap to a Stronger Charitable Sector”. The Senate report made 42 recommendations to modernize and strengthen this sector in Canada, and I am very pleased to see the government begin taking these recommendations under consideration.
Budget 2021 proposes to provide additional support to students and young Canadians who are facing an uncertain future due to the pandemic, and the increasing devastation due to climate change. We must do better for our younger generations. Too many are struggling with crippling student debt and face daunting challenges right now in finding work.
Western University and Fanshawe College are both located in London, and many of my constituents are students and graduates of both post-secondary institutions. This has given me an opportunity to see first-hand the direct impacts COVID-19 has had on this generation. Along with the mental health impacts, young Canadians have been particularly hard hit by layoffs and workplace closures.
While we introduced measures to help the students over the past year who needed support through programs like the Canada emergency student benefit, doubling the Canada summer grant and waiving the interest on the federal portion of Canada student loans for the next year, more needs to be done. We listened to young Canadians from coast to coast to coast on what steps we could take to help them.
Budget 2021 takes those steps. We propose to extend the waiver on interest and maintain the doubling of Canada student grants until 2023. Waiving the interest allows graduates already in repayment to save money. Students and young Canadians will also benefit from the new Canada recovery hiring program, which will allow small businesses to hire new workers faster and at less cost to the businesses as they reopen.
Let us not forget the Canada summer jobs program that is helping over 100 young people just in my riding secure summer jobs this year.
Younger generations are the future of our country, and this budget is investing in them. We must move forward from this crisis, not backward. We must make our world better, not maintain the status quo. This budget moves us forward, and I am proud to support it.