Z - Rebuild Canada

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a fiscal conundrum for governments: How can they dig themselves out of debt in a manner that protects the financial futures of younger generations? Governments should opt for a mix of fiscal strategies that favour smart tax increases.

Well-planned, reliable infrastructure is essential to the well-being of all communities. Despite major policy challenges, Indigenous people, companies and governments are closing the infrastructure gap by advancing successful equity infrastructure projects across the country. Canada should follow these examples.

By shifting its policies on technology procurement and embracing a more collaborative development approach with Canadian innovators; government could also enable Canada’s technology sector to compete more successfully in global markets.

The economic crisis caused by COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on the need to reform Canada’s income-support framework. Combine this with the looming risks of automation and age-related labour shortages, and we have a strong case for creating a modern framework that promotes work and minimizes earning losses for dislocated workers. As we rebuild our economy following the crisis, Canadian policy-makers will need to grapple with this complex and critical task.

When COVID-19 lockdowns came, Canada’s employment insurance system failed to cover enough of the Canadian workforce that was affected and failed administratively to keep up with the surge in applications for benefits. This new report by Jennifer Robson proposes ideas for policy reform and shows why Canadians need wage insurance in the first place.

The country has been held back by lagging productivity and competitiveness, leading to a stagnant growth rate incapable of lifting Canadians’ standards of living. As we rebuild, simply going back to ‘normal’ is not an option.

With COVID-19 raging out of control in the U.S., the last thing most Canadians want to contemplate is more entrants from abroad. But it could be a year before a vaccine arrives and much longer until it is administered globally. If COVID has taught us anything it is that, this time, we have to be ahead of the curve on border control.

Rebuilding the economy will require a sustained, thoughtful approach. Key to that approach will be improving both the quantity and quality of work to repair fractures and avoid disruption from future waves of infection.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated developing geopolitical shifts that are unlikely to dissipate even after the pandemic's economic shock wanes. As a country long used to a more benign international environment, the future prosperity, security and well-being of Canadians will depend in no small measure on how well we navigate this unfamiliar world.

The Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) has been a valuable asset to Canadians in light of the layoffs, cutbacks, and closures spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. CERB and other government financial assistance programs facilitated public support for lockdown and social distancing and so income replacement programs were necessary to avoid societal suffering and to prevent the economy from free fall. While the functioning of this program was conducive to a time of an economic-induced coma, how will these benefits operate during a partial reopening? In this new report, Amin Mawani examines the restructuring of CERB during an economic partial re-opening.

Before the COVID-19 crisis hit, there was already a need for public policy in Canada to adjust. Now, with the economy wounded and international cooperation frayed, we must consider the merits of a more fundamental rebuilding job. Through a series of reports and conferences, this project will tap into the best established and ascending policy brains in an effort to help policymakers weigh priorities and trade-offs and forge a far-reaching rebuild plan.

COVID-19 has exacerbated many issues across many sectors including Canada's higher education sector. With classes moving online and no clear end date, students face the challenge of education from home, some without skill or resource. In this article a number of esteemed authors compile an agenda from a policy perspective on what needs to be the focus and the funding priorities to ensure success in higher education and in turn, the Canadian workforce.