Social Reinvestment: Memo to the Next Prime Minister of Canada

This second Memo to the Next Prime Minister sets out a detailed agenda for social reinvestment.  The new government should ensure a stable fiscal framework which includes clear parameters for monetary policy and creates a better balance in the use of monetary and fiscal policy as levers to control inflation.  The Memo argues that the war on the deficit has been won largely on the backs of poor and modest-income Canadians.  With a surplus expected in the near future, Caledon urges the next government to balance tax cuts with reinvestment in areas, such as health care and child care, that were hurt inordinately as a result of huge cuts to federal cash transfers to the provinces.  We also urge the next government to pursue a range of economic and employment policies to address the problem of stubbornly high unemployment.  The next government should continue to invest substantially in the National Child Benefit System announced in the 1997 Budget.  We propose changes to the Canada Pension Plan to compensate for recent amendments that will have a regressive impact on low- and modest-income Canadians.  Caledon also puts forward a range of proposals to reduce the burden of income taxes and the GST on lower-income households.  Finally, the next Prime Minister should ensure that the federal government continues to act as a strong and effective leader in promoting the economic and social well-being of Canadians.

ISBN – 1-896795-77-6