The Liberals have yet to deliver on a campaign promise to present a Just Transition Act. There is no mention of Just Transition as part of creating sustainable jobs. We needed to see an investment in public renewable energy and creating a true green economy. CUPE wanted to see real action to shift away from fossil fuels, something the Liberals have shown before they are not willing to do. The biggest disappointment is their dependency on carbon capture and storage as a pillar solution to the climate crisis, which allows oil and gas to continue producing fossil fuels and banks on future technological improvements to store/redirect underground emissions. Instead, the Liberals are focusing on flash items like Zero Emission Vehicles ( ZEVs) and more announcements on banning plastics. There is not enough in the budget to signal emissions will be cut to meet Canada’s target (40-45 per cent below 2005 by 2030), and certainly not enough to meet what the IPCC targets (50+ per cent below 2005 by 2030). There remains a desperate need for just transition legislation and serious commitments to climate change led by the public sector. An investment of $9.1 billion will be spent on climate focused projects, $2.6 billion of which will allow oil and gas companies to continue using and producing fossil fuels. The resources and strong action needed to urgently address the climate crisis, which the Liberals have been touting as a major focus for them, is devastatingly missing from this budget. Lastly, the heavy reliance on private sector investment and solutions is clearly seen in the post-secondary and environment and climate change sectors. Growing our social programming such as universal child care, health care, and long-term care is dependent on growing our workforce, but the resources required for recruitment and retainment are not addressed in this budget. However, the investment in co-operative housing is exciting and is being applauded by housing advocates but overall, the scale and direction of investment in housing falls far short of what is required to make a dent in the need for affordable housing. A large investment in defence spending reflects our current geopolitical struggles but does not help Canadians who have the greatest need.Įven in the areas where the federal government has invested the most, like housing, there are disappointing investments which could lead to increased market prices (such as the new home buyers’ initiative), and more money to for-profit developers (such as the Housing Accelerator Fund). While the NDP’s influence in dental care is obvious, other areas in need of immediate investment like long-term care are absent. This budget ignores the crises in health care and climate change and relies too heavily on private-sector investment in private infrastructure. Even more concerning, this budget includes a commitment to reduce already announced spending by $3 billion over the next four years and launches a Strategic Policy Review targeting cuts of another $6 billion over the next five years.
Budgetary revenues were up over $30 billion compared to what was expected in Budget 2021, yet this budget only shows a net new investment of $7 billion. Federal revenues increased substantially as the economy grew faster than expected over the past year, but spending did not.
The federal 2022 budget fails to make progress on key issues.
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