Toronto, November 30, 2020 – Century Initiative issued the following statement in response to yesterday’s Fall Economic Statement by the federal government:
Yesterday’s Fall Economic Statement outlines a promising path forward from COVID-19 in several areas important to Canada’s future.
Century Initiative welcomes the federal government’s commitments to support children and families, including its plans for building a national early learning and child care system. It is especially encouraging to see Quebec cited as a model for what a national child care system could look like.
An accessible and reliable system to support children and families is critical to encouraging women’s labour force participation, which has significantly declined since the outbreak of Covid-19.
The pandemic has proven that government can accelerate the development and implementation of public policy and given the importance of national child care, not just for families, but for our economic recovery, we urge them to work quickly and collaboratively with stakeholders to implement this critical program as soon as possible.
The plan also highlights the connections between immigration, competitiveness, and economic growth, which reinforces Century Initiative’s position that immigration must play a part in Canada’s recovery from Covid-19.
Century Initiative welcomes the government’s commitment to investments supporting increased immigration targets in line with the enhanced Immigration Levels Plan announced in October. We also welcome yesterday’s announcement that the government will expand supports for skilled immigrants to attain recognition of credentials and succeed in the labour market.
The government’s commitments to accelerating broadband infrastructure investments, as well as investments in affordable housing, and green infrastructure are all key to helping Canada’s social and economic recovery
The measures announced yesterday are among those identified by Century Initiative as critical to ensuring Canada’s long-term prosperity and success. We are pleased to see the federal government making these concrete commitments to our recovery, future growth, and well-being and look forward to further details about how those commitments will be rolled out, and the role that stakeholders can play in supporting them.
Century Initiative remains committed to working with the federal government on these priority commitments so that together, we can build a more prosperous, diverse, resilient and influential Canada for future generations.
