OTTAWA -- Experts, stakeholders, and working Canadians are weighing in on the Liberals鈥� spring budget, presented by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in the House of Commons on Monday.
The budget makes big promises on child care, job creation, Indigenous health and housing, green infrastructure, and pledges to continue COVID-19 pandemic aid spending for employees and employers for the next several months to help the economy bounce back.
Reaction to national child-care investment:
鈥淟et鈥檚 recognize the historic moment that we are in here. It took Canada鈥檚 first female finance minister to do what no man was able to do before her and bring about a legitimate child care program for the long-haul,鈥� said Goldy Hyder, the president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada on CTV News Channel鈥檚 Power Play on Monday. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 afford to have people sitting at home so getting people back to the workforce -- yeah it will have some complications with provinces here and there 鈥� but I think it鈥檚 a true win, win, win.鈥�
Reaction to business supports and the extension of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy to Sept. 25:
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if September is actually the right idea. Honestly, I think that the subsidies should be extended until the end of 2021, well into even 2022. We don鈥檛 know if the customers are going to come back the same way they did before,鈥� said Toronto-based retailer Nadine Devereux-Iacullo on CTV News Channel on Monday.
鈥淚 think small businesses right now are hoping that the subsidies will get them to an end point, and then we鈥檒l have an opportunity to get back at what we do and what we love and get our teams on the floor and everybody able to prosper. But there is a point where too much debt is just too much debt,鈥� said Calgary-based business owner Lisa Maric on CTV News Channel on Monday.
Reaction to support for Indigenous communities:
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to help, there鈥檚 no question, but we鈥檝e got to keep advocating for greater investments,鈥� Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said on CTV News Channel鈥檚 Power Play on Monday. 鈥淭his moves in the right direction but continual investments need to be made and I need Canadians to get onside with this because the socio-economic gap that exists between First Nations and the rest of Canadian society is huge.鈥�
鈥淥ne of the things that is very clear is that in the medium term, we are going to see the economy bouncing back. We鈥檝e had the economy over the last year in a medically-induced coma, when we take those restrictions off there鈥檚 an enormous amount of pent up demand in the economy,鈥� said Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, on CTV News Channel鈥檚 Power Play on Monday. 鈥淭he real question is can we sustain the sort of growth that we鈥檙e going to need to have to be able to bring the level of the deficit down.鈥�
