Premiers oppose strings attached to $14B aid package
Provinces balk at feds telling them what to spend on
OTTAWA • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s offered provinces $14 billion as part of a “safe restart” plan notably to help them buy more personal protective equipment and offer up to 10 sick days to workers. But some provinces are already saying no deal.
“The premiers and I will work for a safe restart agreement which would cover the next critical six to eight months,” Trudeau said during Friday morning’s daily briefing. “With this safe restart agreement, we’re proposing a standard of support to keep every Canadian right across the country safe and healthy as we get our country back on their feet.”
Trudeau said funding was being negotiated with the provinces for things including:
❚ More personal protective equipment for health-care workers and businesses as employees begin returning to the office.
❚ Additional childcare services.
❚ Offering up to 10 days of paid sick days to workers who currently don’t have benefits.
❚ “Immediate assistance” for seniors and vulnerable populations who are most at risk of catching COVID-19.
❚ Money for infrastructure and community programs as well as public transit for municipalities.
But the prime minister also said these funds were “targeted,” meaning that provinces would have to ensure they were used for the agreed-upon causes before receiving a cheque.
That proposal, first announced to premiers during a conference call on Thursday evening, was met with little enthusiasm from the provinces on Friday.
“The reality is we have a $23-billion problem in Ontario. And $14 billion for all of Canada, won’t solve the problem. $14 billion for all of Canada just won’t cut it,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters.
Ford also said that he is not interested in Ottawa’s proposal for provinces to offer 10 paid sick days to workers without benefits, adding that most premiers except British Columbia’s seemed opposed to it as well.
“I wasn’t getting any requests for this. This seems to be something that originated out west and the prime minister is kind of taking a hold of it,” New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs confirmed during a separate press conference.
Trudeau’s push on paid vacation days was a key demand from NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in order for the New Democrats to support a motion to limit sittings and votes in the House of Commons through the summer.
Quebec Premier François Legault said he’s interested in the $14 billion offer by the federal government — as long as it comes with no strings attached.
“We don’t want any conditions,” Legault said on Friday. “Trudeau is talking about imposing 10 paid sick days to companies that are shocked (by the pandemic). That seems to be part of the conditions imposed by Trudeau, so I was very clear that we want part of the $14 billion, but we don’t want it to be conditional to anything.”
The Quebec premier also argued that the envelope should be split by total number of COVID-19 cases and costs incurred because of the pandemic rather than per capita.
“We know that Quebec had more cases than the rest of the country, so we think we should receive more than the 23 per cent our population represents in Canada,” Legault said.
During his daily press conference on Friday, the prime minister also announced a one-time non-taxable payment of up to $600 for people with disabilities.
The payment will be made automatically to any Canadian who is a disability tax credit certificate holder. According to Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Accessibility Carla Qualtrough, 1.25 million people will receive a total of $548 million.
“We know this pandemic has deeply affected the lives and health of all Canadians and disproportionately affected Canadians with disabilities in particular. I think of the significant costs persons with disabilities have incurred to safely get food, medication and other basic necessities,” Qualtrough said during the daily ministerial briefing Friday.
For the first time, Trudeau also committed to force the Liberal Party of Canada to reveal the amount of money it has received via the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS).
Since news emerged that theliberals (and all other federal parties except the Bloc Québécois) had successfully applied for the wage subsidy over one week ago, the party has consistently refused to reveal how much in public funds it received.
WE DON’T WANT IT TO BE CONDITIONAL TO ANYTHING.