National Post (National Edition)
From EI and baby bumps to fake words
Super clusters! Futurpreneurs! And hey, new moms, you can take more time off with baby — but those EI payments will shrink accordingly. Here are a few items that had National Post reporters in the budget lock-up scratching their heads
HAVING A BABY? ENJOY LESS FOR LONGER!
Under employment insurance, families can now claim parental benefits over an extended period of 18 months, rather than 12 months. Hooray! There’s a catch. If you opt for the longer haul, your benefit rate will drop to 33 per cent of weekly earnings, from 55 per cent if you decide only to take the year. Even so, the changes are expected to cost $152 million over five years, starting in 2017–18, and $27.5 million per year thereafter. Sometimes, like a chocolate advent calendar, it simply costs more to get less for a longer time.
SUPERCLUSTERS AND FUTURPRENEURS!
New buzzwords are at hand, because in Canada, better is always possible. Superclusters, apparently, are more exciting versions of clusters, defined as “dense areas of business activity that contain large and small companies, post-secondary institutions and specialized talent and infrastructure.” Think Silicon Valley. In the next five years, Canada will put $950 million toward becoming super. Proving that anything can be made more innovative by adding the word “future,” we bring you “futurpreneur." The government will offer $14 million, over two years, to non-profit organization Futurpreneur Canada, which mentors and supports young businesspeople. (We tried to come up with a Back to the Futurpreneur pun but couldn’t come up with a one that was “super” enough.)
WHITHER DEFENCE?
Only one-and-a-half pages are devoted to the Department of National Defence, on which Canada spends a full one per cent of its gross domestic product. There’s also nothing on cyber-security (not even one mention), which preoccupies Canada’s intelligence agencies. That compares to four pages on “Canada’s digital future,” and, hey, a solid two pages (including an infographic that features a lightbulb) on superclusters. Ostensibly, this is because the government is still finishing up its defence policy review, originally promised for the end of 2016. The public consultations collected for that review ended in July — several months before the election of Donald Trump, who we hear has a few ideas of his own about the military and nuclear and stuff. Stay tuned! At least three mystery departments will have the pleasure of being comprehensively reviewed starting this year. On the chopping block: “poorly targeted and inefficient programs, wasteful spending, and ineffective and obsolete government initiatives.” Whew! Sure sounds like the feds have particular bureaucrats in mind when they level accusations like that at their own departments and agencies, eh? If Finance Minister Bill Morneau and his crew do know who’ll be looked at, they aren’t telling us in this document. Reviewees will be determined after the budget’s release, it says. Surprise!
IS ALBERTA THE NEW QUEBEC?
After decades of decrying federal slush funds shoring up Quebec’s social programs, Albertans are getting a $30-million payment with no strings attached. Wednesday’s budget calls for “a onetime payment of $30 million to the Government of Alberta to support provincial actions that will stimulate economic activity and employment in Alberta’s resource sector.” Scheduled for the 2017-2018 year, the payment is slightly less than $10 for every Albertan, according to census data. The Liberals say their government “understands the challenging economic circumstances” for “this specialized work force.” That’s despite a budget proposal to shift tax incentives for oil and gas exploration toward geothermal heat projects. WHO’S GETTING AUDITED?