The Business Council of Canada is calling on the federal government in Ottawa to scale back its pandemic stimulus spending and focus instead on innovation and combatting climate change.
The Council, which represents the chief executives of Canada’s biggest companies, has outlined areas of focus for the federal government’s upcoming budget to spur long-term growth, including a call for more spending discipline.
The proposals, outlined in a five-page letter to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, include investing in strategies to help Canada meet its 2030 emissions reduction goals, developing an industrial strategy, strengthening the labor force with highly skilled immigrants, and simplifying the tax code.
The federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has run deficits of almost half a trillion dollars over the past two years to finance pandemic-relief programs and shore up the economy.
Ottawa has made clear that it plans to continue spending over the next few years. In last year’s budget, the federal government allocated $140 billion for additional stimulus measures over five years. Trudeau also promised $78 billion in new spending during last year’s election campaign, much of which has not yet been budgeted.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), who oversees the federal government’s spending, has raised concerns about the ongoing amount of stimulus dollars coming from Ottawa as the pandemic recedes.
