The COVID-19 pandemic has left more people feeling unsure about their future. So the Government of Canada’s pre-budget meeting allowed local Members of Parliament to hear ideas and concerns from those in their communities about how Budget 2021 can best support the residents of northwestern Ontario.
The virtual meeting was held on Feb. 10 by Hon. Patty Hajdu, Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay – Superior North, and Marcus Powlowski, Member of Parliament for Thunder Bay – Rainy River.
Powlowski said the yearly event saw a diverse set of concerns brought up from housing, social services, benefits, Employment Insurance, CERB payments, childcare and the LGBTQ+ community.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re an individual, a business, a non-profit organization, a concerned citizen, everybody is welcome to submit their suggestions in terms of the upcoming budget and what we spend our money on,” Powlowski said.
Some of the key items brought forward in the meeting include:
– Direct support and increased flexibility for municipalities, especially for infrastructure projects
– programs to address equity gaps such as school food programs, universal basic income, immigration programs and connectivity;
– supports for business with special consideration for small businesses, highly affected industries, women entrepreneurs and Indigenous owned business;
– focus on collaboration and regional economic development with Indigenous partners; and
– continued investments in post-secondary institutes, research and innovation.
Powlowski said the government has to at some point choose where to put its limited resources, whether it’s in greater benefits for work, better daycare services, or more support for women entrepreneurs.
“There’s many in such a big diverse number of issues that the government has to prioritise and decide which of these many worthy causes it’s going to invest in,” Powlowski said. “The added wrench thrown into the machinery at the moment is the fact that with COVID there’s a lot of financial obligations.”
Powlowski said the Ministry of Finance already has a template of what the budget will look like and many of the costs are already fixed, but that there is some wiggle room in the budget to go towards other areas of concern.
Powlowski said he would like to see funding for the tourism sector in northwestern Ontario which was hit hard by the COVID pandemic due to the closure of borders, resulting in a lot of lost revenue. As well, he said he would like to see more funding in mass transit.
“It decreases greenhouse gases, decreases congestion in cities and more money in mass transit would hopefully result in more jobs for Thunder Bay,” Powlowski said.
Powlowski said this meeting is an important part of the democratic process because it sets the government’s priorities and allows them to indicate where they want to be going in terms of society and the government’s involvement.
“This is an opportunity for everyone to put in their two cents as to what they think we ought to be spending our money on and what is important,” Powlowski said. “We do listen and we do encourage people to let us know their opinions and there was a number of things that came up on that call yesterday which I intend to pursue.”
Canadians still have an opportunity to contribute their ideas through an online questionnaire at LetsTalkBudget2021.ca, which will be available until Feb. 19, 2021.
