A Stronger and More Resilient Canada: Throne Speech 2020
Canada and the world continue to face the most serious public health crisis in recent history, but throughout it all the people of Nepean and all Canadians have risen to the challenge. Neighbours have helped neighbours, small businesses have supported their communities, members of the Armed Forces have protected our most vulnerable, and front-line workers have worked to keep our families healthy and safe.
From the outset we took immediate action to help Canadians with programs like the CERB and CEWS to help Canadians pay their bills and help businesses keep workers on the payroll. We’ve worked with the provinces and territories to help fund the services that Canadians rely on, like public transit and healthcare. We’ve also invested in our own domestic capacity to produce the personal protective equipment that is keeping our frontline healthcare workers safe, and our businesses running.
The pandemic has revealed some of the fundamental gaps in our system that have made an already challenging situation even heavier, especially for parents, racialized Canadians, Indigenous Peoples, young Canadians, and seniors.
That’s why we presented our vision for a better, more resilient Canada. One that is healthier and safer, cleaner and more competitive, and fairer and more inclusive. Our plan has four fundamental pillars:
We will do whatever it takes to protect the health and safety of Canadians and support them and their businesses for as long as it takes. To build a Canada that works for everyone, we will need to take bold action on health, the economy, equality, and the environment. Canada succeeds when its people succeed, and this is our opportunity to contain the global pandemic and build back better, together.
Protecting Canadians from COVID-19
COVID-19 is an invisible enemy that respects no borders and can affect anyone. To fight this virus and save lives, we will provide Canadians, especially our most vulnerable, with the right tools to protect their health and safety.
For our frontline healthcare workers:
We’ve helped the provinces increase the capacity of their healthcare systems and testing capabilities with an investment of over $19 billion through the Safe Restart Agreement.
We’ve also supported the provinces and territories in keeping children safe as they returned to the classroom, with a $2 billion investment through the Safe Return to Class Fund, and provided funding to First Nations communities to do the same.
Testing and contact tracing will continue to be a big part of our toolbox in keeping this virus under control, and we will further support the provinces and territories in this effort. As quicker tests become available and are approved by Health Canada, we’ll do everything we can to see them deployed as fast as possible. We’ll also be creating the federal Testing Assistance Response Team to quickly meet surge testing needs during any potential future waves.
In the long run, the best way to end this pandemic and ensure the health and safety of Canadians is with a safe and effective vaccine. We’ve already secured agreements with some of the leading vaccine manufacturers for vaccine-candidates and will continue to evaluate new ones as they become available, while also investing in manufacturing here at home. Once a vaccine is ready, we will make sure every Canadian who wants it can get it.
It will take all of us, and all of our efforts to keep Canadians safe and healthy, and to beat this virus.
Helping Canadians through the pandemic
This pandemic has shown itself to be just as much an economic crisis as it is a health crisis. From the very beginning we committed to doing whatever is takes to help Canadians weather this storm. At the beginning of the pandemic we acted quickly with the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) so the residents of Nepean, and all Canadians could continue to pay their bills and put food on the table.
As we work towards a full recovery, we’ve extended the CEWS to next summer so Canadians can keep their jobs as business starts to ramp up again. Our ultimate goal is to create over one million jobs and a return to pre-pandemic employment levels.
Businesses will be supported through this crisis with an expanded Canada Emergency Business Account to help them with fixed costs and an improved Business Credit Availability Program. We will also introduce further support for industries that have been the hardest hit, including travel and tourism, hospitality, and cultural industries like the performing arts.
Women have been disproportionately impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, particularly low-income women. To ensure this pandemic doesn’t roll back women’s participation in the workforce, our government will create an Action Plan for Women in the Economy and accelerate the Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy. As women continue to bear the majority of child-care responsibilities, we’ll give parents access to affordable, inclusive, and high-quality childcare by creating a Canada-wide early learning and childcare system.
For those who’ve still not been able to return to work or have been laid-off and can’t find a new job, they can now receive support by a bolstered Employment Insurance (EI) system. For those who wouldn’t normally qualify for EI, we’re creating a transitional Recovery Benefit to offer support in this difficult time.
The cost to get Canada on the other side of this pandemic may be high, but the cost of inaction would be even worse. This is not the time for austerity. Ensuring Canadians are supported through this health crisis is the best thing we can do for the economy.
Building back better
As we navigate the fallout of this pandemic and work towards rebuilding, we know that some things cannot go back to business as usual. The pandemic has given us the unique opportunity to fix the vulnerabilities in our societies that have been exposed.
Seniors living in long-term care homes have been immensely affected during this pandemic, and we will work to ensure that something like this never happens again. We’ll work with the provinces and territories to set new, national standards for long-term care, so seniors get the best care possible.
While our robust health care system has managed the pandemic well, it has made the need for things like access to a primary care physician, mental health services, virtual healthcare services, and universal pharmacare more obvious. We look forward to working with provinces and territories to achieve these goals and strengthen our healthcare system.
In urban centres, working from home has been a possibility for many sectors of the Canadian economy, thanks to a world-class internet infrastructure. Unfortunately, some rural Canadians haven’t been able to fully participate in this evolution in the same way. That’s why we’re accelerating timelines and ambitions of the Universal Broadband Fund, so every Canadian, no matter where they live, can have access to reliable high-speed internet services.
The future is green. Long-term competitiveness will be achieved through clean growth while fighting climate change. The time is now to transition away from fossil fuels and invest in clean energy, increased energy efficiency, and reliable public transportation options. We plan to exceed our 2030 climate targets and will be legislating our net-zero greenhouse gas target, which we will achieve by 2050.
Let’s work together to build back better.
The Canada we’re fighting for
Canadians take care of one another, and this is especially true during a pandemic. It’s something we witness every day, and an ideal we continue to aspire to. We’re standing up for the values that define our country: reconciliation, embracing our two official languages, celebrating the contributions of LGBTQ2 communities, welcoming newcomers, and supporting family reunification.
Systemic racism is a lived reality for far too many Canadians. We know that COVID-19 has hit racialized Canadians especially hard. Indigenous people, Black, and racialized Canadians have raised their voices and demanded change, and we’ve committed to doing just that. We’ve pledged to work together to address systemic racism, and to reaffirm our commitments to reconciliation.
Canada is a country built on two official languages. They are an important part of our identity as Canadians and our culture. Protecting minority language communities is a priority, as is promoting French across Canada. To that end, we will be strengthening the Official Languages Act.
Canada is known worldwide as a welcoming place, where immigrants and immigration are celebrated. We recognize the positive impacts immigration has on our communities, and our long-term economic growth. We will continue to bring in newcomers and support family reunification and leverage the advantages a multicultural Canada brings to keep us competitive on the world stage.
Canada has always believed in what the world can achieve when we all work together, and it’s even more important during a global pandemic. We cannot eliminate the pandemic in Canada unless we end it everywhere. We must ensure that people around the world have access to a vaccine and continue to assist developing countries with their economic recoveries and resilience so that we can all build back better.
There remains much work to be done, but Canadians have always been up to the task.
Stay safe.
Chandra
