By Pepper Parr
March 24th, 2017
BURLINGTON,ON
The federal government released its budget for the year on Tuesday. The job of the government is to now sell that budget – convince us that what they have decided to do is the right thing for all of us.
Would that it were so.
As a member of the Cabinet Karina Gould is expected to get out there and tell the story.
Here is her version of that story.
Yesterday, Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau, shared Budget 2017, delivering on the Government’s ambitious agenda to support Canadians at every stage of their lives, transform our neighbourhoods and communities and give every Canadian a real and fair chance at success.
With its strong focus on innovation, skills, partnerships and fairness, Budget 2017 takes the next steps in securing a more prosperous future for all Canadians.
The investments in infrastructure we make today will deliver clean, sustained economic growth; building stronger, more inclusive communities and create more jobs for Canadians.
I encourage you to visit https://www.budget.gc.ca/2017 to review the budget in its entirety; I am also pleased to share some highlights that will have a particular resonance for our community and its people.
Budget 2017 proposes $300 million for a Smart Cities Challenge Fund, which will support a competition among cities across Canada, to develop smart cities plans, bringing together local governments, citizens, businesses, and civil society.
Where will Burlington be in that challenge?
In addition, to support our government’s plan for a clean, sustainable economy, over the next 11 years, $21.9 billion will be invested in green infrastructure, including initiatives that will support the implementation of the Pan-Canadian framework on clean growth and climate change.
There appears to be an assumption that the Liberal Party will still form the government in 11 years.
Budget 2017 works to build stronger communities by improving access to early learning, child care and affordable housing. It will invest $11.2 billion over 11 years for an inclusive National Housing Strategy, to help ensure Canadians have affordable housing that meets their needs.
The Red dress – brought out for those celebratory occasions – winning the election.
To give kids and their parents a real and fair chance at success, the Government will invest $7 billion over 10 years, starting in 2018-19, to support and create more high quality, affordable, child care spaces across the country. To provide better support to young families, Budget 2017 will also commit $886.4 million over five years to make employment insurance, caregiving, parental and maternity benefits more flexible for Canadians to meet their different needs.
Young Canadians will be the ones who drive the future growth of Canada’s economy, yet too many struggle to find practical work experience that leads to good, well-paying jobs. Last year, the Government announced new investments in the Youth Employment Strategy and the Canada Summer Jobs program, which help to create short-term job opportunities for students between the ages of 15 and 30.
Budget 2017 provides an additional $395.5 million over three years, for the Youth Employment Strategy, for additional employment and skills development opportunities for young Canadians. Combined with Budget 2016 measures, these investments will help more than 33,000 vulnerable youth develop the skills they need to find work or go back to school; create 15,000 new green jobs and provide over 1,600 new employment opportunities for youth in the heritage sector.
Budget 2017 will also invest $221 million over five years to renew and expand funding for Mitacs, a not-for-profit organization that builds partnerships between industry and educational institutions, to help it meet its goal of providing 10,000 work-integrated learning placements for Canadian post-secondary students and graduates each year. As well as $2.7 billion over six years to boost skills training and employment support for those unemployed and underemployed under the Labour Market Transfer Agreements.
Budget 2017 helps connect companies on a global scale, takes an innovative and collaborative approach to solving modern challenges, and helps businesses get what they need to grow. Starting in 2017-18, Budget 2017 will invest $950 million over five years, to support “super-clusters”, dense areas of business activity that energize economies and act as engines of growth. These “super-clusters” have the greatest potential to accelerate economic growth, through a competitive basis. The competition will launch this year and focus on super-clusters that enhance Canada’s global competitiveness by focusing on highly innovative industries such as advanced manufacturing, clean technology and health/bio-sciences, as well as infrastructure and transportation.
Will Burlington ever have super-cluster status or will we be a part of what Hamilton is clearly becoming – a fast growing city that has all the pieces in place to become an economic and technical hub of some significance.
To help coordinate and simplify innovation programs available to businesses, Budget 2017 proposes to establish Innovation Canada, a new platform led by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. Innovation Canada will lead the creation of Canada’s economic growth strategies.
Canada’s 150th Anniversary reminds us that we have a lot to be thankful for. Economically, our talented, skilled, diverse and innovative workforce gives us tremendous potential for growth. Our values, stories and culture shine for the world to see. That is why we will continue to invest in our people, our communities and our economy, to build a better future for generations to come.
That’s a boat load of promises – what doesn’t get even a mention is the waiting game the Canadian government has to play until it gets a clear idea as to what the government of the United States is going to do and where their intention to re-negotiate the NAFTA agreement that underpins the automotive trade between Canada and the United States is going to take us.
Karina Gould has real work experience in international trade matters and she will be listened to carefully when she speaks at the Cabinet table. The people of Burlington would love to hear what she thinks – and perhaps be included in that thinking. As Minister of Democratic Institutions on would think she would take this route almost automatically.
Perhaps she will grow into that role.
Gould now runs two sets of offices: the one in Burlington is the place you and I go to when we have a problem with Revenue Canada or the Passport people. That office, located in the Burlington Mall takes care of those all-important voters.
Bigger office and bigger desk in Ottawa.
Gould also has an office in Ottawa – which is a lot different than the Burlington operation. It is part of a government that deals with any number of different issues in a single day. Some of the work is part of a plan or an initiative that has been put in place – at other times Gould is reacting to issues that have come up and need an almost instant response.
As a Cabinet Minister she is part of a team that is tightly integrated
Being a part of a government is a two part job – first to ensure that you can stay in power and second to run the country and provide the services that are needed and to study and research and attempt to determine what the future is going to require.
That means having a bureaucracy that does all the grunt work and advises the Minister.
The pace in the Ottawa office can be very hectic. Getting the 15 minutes we got for the interview we published yesterday included four phone calls to let us know that Gould couldn’t call at the scheduled time – we would have to wait. She was needed in the House of Commons – there were several votes that were going to be taken.
When a Minister of the Cabinet is “on” they are on for every minute of the day. And some of those days are very long.
The team in the Burlington office are as proud as punch of their Member of Parliament. Some of the staff positions have gone through an upgrade with more professionalism clearly evident.
Every constituent counts.
The woman who handles communications and community outreach is a Muslim with a very well-honed sense as to what is happening in the city and the work that needs to be done. She holds a degree in philosophy as well as a certificate from Mohawk College in communications.
Newly married she gently rubs her tummy during our conversation – her first child is due in August. This child, a boy, will become the office baby with all the attendant oohs and awes.
There were two staffers at the meeting – the second one looked at me and said: Pepper – don’t you dare ask?
Just wondering.
Part 1 of the interview with Cabinet Minister and Burlington Member of Parliament Karina Gould.
