Tag: research

A (Too?) Timid Response to Challenging Times

Budget 2023 notionally delivers the response that had been expected of the government to address affordability issues facing Canadian families, reflects recent intergovernmental agreements on health care funding, and addresses the US administration’s “green industrial policy” investments. In actuality, the budget seems too timid a response to too many disparate policy and political imperatives to make a meaningful impact on any single one of them.

From a political perspective, the suite of measures aimed at addressing the rising cost of living is understandable. Exclusive public opinion data collected by Discover by Navigator in the days leading up to today’s budget confirm that addressing cost of living issues was the top priority of Canadians at 39 per cent, beating out lowering taxes (21 per cent) and reducing government spending (20 per cent). These measures will also serve to buttress the deal negotiated a year ago with the New Democratic Party, notably the additional investments in dental care – a long-standing NDP priority.

Like Budget 2022, which was shaped by rising inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Budget 2023 is more a response to outside pressures than the expression of the Government of Canada’s desired policy direction. The question is whether the measures announced today will constitute a robust enough response to the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, the demands of our increasingly strained health care system or the still-too-heavy burden of the rising cost of living on family budgets to make a meaningful; difference. Only time will tell, which may, in the end, be the one thing the government was playing for in designing this budget.

You can download our budget analysis here.

For more analysis, or support engaging government on any of the budget announcements, contact your Navigator team or reach out at info@navltd.com. 

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In her second budget as Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland has proposed a much more prudent economic plan for Canada than had been anticipated, especially when one considers her first budget in April 2021, her party’s election platform last fall, and the Trudeau government’s confidence-and-supply agreement with the New Democrats.​

This budget signals the beginning of the end of pandemic supports. The pace of withdrawal is appropriately measured, but the objective is clear: the Government of Canada is winding down the temporary measures it had introduced as a result of COVID-19.​

The budget reflects the recent agreement with the NDP, in that it signals progress on that party’s key priorities, but the impact is very focused on a select few policy commitments. In fact, the impact of that agreement is circumscribed by external considerations, which have clearly applied more pressure on the government’s choices than the confidence-and-supply agreement. We are indeed a far cry from Building Back Better.​

In the main, the 2022 federal budget is shaped by global forces that have limited the government’s scope of action and focused its attention on a few key priorities: housing, climate change and the war in Europe. This is not the budget that had been anticipated when Prime Minister Trudeau selected his cabinet and drafted their mandate letters. This is the budget the world and all its uncertainties have thrust onto Canada.

You can download our budget analysis here.

For more analysis, or support engaging government on any of the budget announcements, contact your Navigator team or reach out at info@navltd.com. ​

Navigator Principal and Vice President & Director of Research for the Centre for the Purpose of the Corporation, André Pratte, discusses the 2021 federal budget in the Montreal Gazette.

This week in Navigator Principal and Vice-President of the Centre for the Purpose of the Corporation, Tasha Kheiriddin’s National Post column, is a look at the 2021 federal budget that provides a sneak peek into the Liberal party’s election plan.

It would seem the Trudeau government has taken Sir Winston Churchill’s advice to heart. More than a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 budget has the potential to fundamentally change the role of the federal government and transform its relationship with Canadians.

Assuming all the initiatives announced today are implemented, this budget will multiply Ottawa’s touch points with citizens: unprecedented federal engagement in social policy via early childhood education and long-term care; direct support for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); and a comprehensive policy response to the unequal impact of the pandemic on women, Indigenous peoples, Black and racialized Canadians.

Reconciling this budget with the federal fact of Canada will be a tremendous challenge. More than the reactions of opposition parties, it is the negotiations with the provinces that will determine the ambition of the measures announced today and, ultimately, the success of the government’s long-term intention to build back better.

If you require any assistance in your federal election planning, please reach out to our Navigator Ottawa office at info@navltd.com.

You can also download our budget analysis here.