BUDGET WELCOMED
`Ticks a lot of boxes'
The first federal budget in two years was worth waiting for in the eyes of local leaders, especially its centrepiece program for affordable child care.
The program aims to offer child care for $10 a day if the federal government can work with its provincial counterparts to complete its full implementation.
“The one thing that resonates with me and I think will actually be quite a game changer for manufacturing and automation companies is the childcare plan,” said Automate Canada chair Shelley Fellows.
“For years, child care has been difficult to access and expensive, and has prevented women from considering manufacturing for their careers. It's been a barrier.”
Fellows added manufacturing has struggled to attract new talent to replace the veteran workers approaching retirement. Not being able to access half the population has also restricted the sector's ability to grow.
“Access to affordable child care will make a significant difference to how many women are employed in manufacturing,” Fellows said.
“As the economy starts to heat up again, manufacturing will start to fire on all cylinders and we'll need to add fuel to power that engine. We'll need to grow that workforce and that under-represented group of women is one source of employees that hasn't really been taken advantage of by manufacturing.”
In addition to the childcare program, Windsor and District Labour Council president Brian Hogan felt the government's $17.6-billion funding of green infrastructure and technology, and a zero-emission accelerator program will be a major boost to the local economy.
“Investing in climate change — infrastructure and manufacturing — that's something the labour investment has been talking about for a long time,” Hogan said. “It works well together to produce green jobs.”
Hogan added he hopes the move to up the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour would put pressure on the provinces to follow.
He said labour generally likes the budget, but expressed some disappointment at not seeing a pharmacare plan, a wealth tax, taxes on big international tech firms and plans to aid reshoring and domestication of supply chains in the document.
“I'll be able to grade the budget better after the opposition pushes for a few changes,” Hogan said.
The 2021 budget, which will have a deficit of just over $154 billion, touched on a wide-ranging number of sectors that left all local leaders able to find something positive for the region.
Tecumseh Mayor and Warden of Essex County Gary Mcnamara liked the budget as a blueprint to get the country and region out of the economic doldrums post-pandemic.
“The surprise for me is they sprinkled money more far-reaching than I thought of,” Mcnamara said. “It's a well-placed budget because it hits all four pillars that are good for municipalities — infrastructure, broadband, social housing and daycare.
“There's a lot of money available to stimulate growth and the economy.
“We'll have to pay the piper at the end of the day, but right now is not the time for austerity. There are still too many people suffering out there.”
Windsor-essex County Regional Chamber of Commerce Ceo/president Rakesh Naidu was pleased the Liberals extended the buffet of existing programs such as wage and rent supports and added a $595-million plan for encouraging businesses to hire new workers.
That program will see a 50-per cent wage subsidy.
“It minimizes the risk to businesses as they reopen, but encourages bringing back those laid- off or new hires,” Naidu said. “It's very welcome.
“I think overall, the budget ticks a lot of boxes and reaches out to lot of sectors and segments of society. We do have concerns that we must start to focus on improving our debt-to-gdp ratio.
“We can't keep running such large deficits.”
Naidu also welcomed the $4-billion Digital Adaption Program, which pairs 28,000 young, tech-savvy workers with small- and medium-sized businesses looking to upgrade their tech capacity.
More funding for small tech startups, skills training and $52-million to aid Black entrepreneurship were also singled out as positives.
“There's also $656.1-million for modernizing the border over five years,” Fellows said. “That's an important investment for this region.”
It minimizes the risk to businesses as they reopen, but encourages bringing back those laid- off or new hires.