Don’t judge a budget by its numbers
The Federal Budget is an expression of our national goals and commitments. What do we want for Canada, and how does the government propose to achieve that?
At Maytree, we are looking at how the federal government plans to protect our economic and social rights.
This year, they rightly paid attention to housing and poverty with both new and expected spending. As the government moves from Budget to implementation, we’ll be keeping an eye out for a few things we need to do:
Act at scale.
It’s good to see the federal government’s plan to meet Canada’s housing crisis at the scale we need with a new approach to using publicly owned land. It proposes to identify federal land that is suitable for development; but rather than give it away or sell it cheaply, the government will retain ownership and lease it to others to build new homes. Rather than depleting assets from the federal balance sheet, this approach will retain and enhance them. It will significantly reduce the land costs of building new homes by as much as 25 per cent in large markets. Much of what’s built on these lands will be earmarked as affordable housing.
Canada needs a lot of affordable housing, so the government will have to designate a lot of land for this purpose. Much of that land has been guarded by various government departments for some future “rainy day.” This housing crisis is that rainy day. For people who need a home now, it’s a torrential downpour. Releasing public land for new homes has the potential to be transformational.
This Budget addresses the housing crisis at a scale that recent federal and provincial budgets have not. No single thing will solve the housing crisis; progress will come from acting on many fronts, not all of which are under federal jurisdiction. It is encouraging to see the federal government putting their fiscal capacity, political influence, and leadership into action.
Set a solid foundation, then increase (and index) for greater impact.
This year’s Budget was the first to put a dollar amount to the eagerly anticipated Canada Disability Benefit (CDB). As many have pointed out, the amount announced in the federal budget is too low, and it will reach too few. It will not do enough for enough people.
Over this coming year, the government will be creating the regulations that will determine how the benefit is implemented, including how to apply and how it will interact with other disability benefits. It has pledged to do this alongside advocates and disability communities, and this is an opportunity to follow through on people’s right to participate in the process.
If we can build a solid foundation of regulations, the CDB has the potential to grow into a benefit that brings people with disabilities out of poverty.
That said, the starting point in the Budget is insufficient. The government should scale up this benefit by increasing the rates, ensuring it is indexed to inflation, and expanding the eligibility criteria to include more people. People with disabilities need this support now. The government should not make people wait years for the CDB to grow into something that provides meaningful help.
Learn from what works.
Canada is the last G7 nation to institute a national school food program. Within Canada, many such programs already exist at the community level.
Over the years, the community-based organizations that run these programs have developed the know-how and the relationships within communities that make these programs work for children, families, and schools. No need to start from scratch here, or to task an entirely new or inexperienced organization with doing so.
One thing in particular to pay attention to: food is more than fuel. It’s true that without enough food, we can’t function; but food is also what brings us together. It nurtures our bodies and our relationships with each other.
Healthy food in kids’ bellies is important. Just as important is making sure that kids feel they’re part of a community that cares about them. A good school food program can do both. We need to learn from the programs that already do this and do it well, rather than outsource to companies that merely supply meals. These funds should be used to build on this expertise so that more students will benefit.
Measure performance by the impact on people’s lives.
At the end of the day, we should judge the Budget not strictly by the numbers, but rather by how it will help people, particularly those who are most in need. Are people living in affordable, stable, adequate homes? Can people with disabilities afford their basic necessities? Are children nourished and thriving in their school communities?
Budgets are important because they are the “reality parameters” around what the government can do. They are also, as we said at the outset, an expression of our national goals and commitments.
Canada has pledged many times over many decades to realize every person’s human right to housing and an adequate standard of living. To live up to these commitments, the federal government must now translate the Budget into better lives for people through the serious work of implementation.