Economic Update | Fighting COVID-19 at the heart of Ottawa’s action

(Ottawa) Money to buy rapid screening tests and therapeutic products, help to clean up ventilation in schools, an increase in the deduction for working at home: while the Omicron variant makes people shudder, The COVID-19 footprint is everywhere in the economic update presented by the Trudeau government.

Melanie Marquis
Press

In total, for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, the federal government is injecting 3.3 billion in various measures to combat the virus. There is money in this envelope for the purchase of various tools to be used in the fight against the pandemic.

Ottawa pulls out the checkbook to procure $ 180 million of these rapid screening tests that the provinces are clamoring for, at an anticipated cost of $ 1.7 billion. The federal government is also setting aside $ 2 billion over two years for the purchase of therapeutic products from Merck and Pfizer, with whom the government recently announced an agreement.

To these investments are added 70 million for schools that want to upgrade their ventilation system, and a tax credit at the cost of 241 million over three years for small businesses that also plan. For those for whom telecommuting is still a reality, the expense deduction drops from $ 400 to $ 500.

And because the Omicron variant is on the prowl – Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, by the way, did not show up in person to the press conference inside the closed door, as two members of her staff received results positive for screening tests – the federal government is setting aside 4.5 billion, just in case.

The big money called the extra money that would be used to cover the potential new costs associated with the battle against the Omicron variant and other measures against COVID-19 – including some control measures against COVID-19 – an “insurance policy”. borders and various income and business support measures.

The cumulative new spending tinted by the pandemic context, over six years – including those for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022 – reached 8.1 billion. But they represent a small portion of the expenditure incurred since the last budget, and announced in this economic update, ie 71.2 billion.

The lion’s share will go, as it had (unusually) been confirmed on the eve of this document’s filing, to settling a long legal saga over Indigenous children and the scaffolding of long-term service reform. of child protection among First Nations: 20 billion for compensation, 20 billion for investments over five years, until 2026-2027.

Immigration and Afghanistan

To curb the current labor shortage, the government is counting on the reception, in 2022, of a record number of immigrants, “an important engine of economic growth”, argued the Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland. To reach this target of 411,000, 85 million will be paid in order to reduce the backlog in the system.

The federal government will also provide $ 1.3 billion over six years to welcome and resettle 40,000 Afghan refugees and their families in Canada. This sum appears to be significantly higher than initial projections – in the liberal platform, 350 million were mentioned over two years to receive 20,000 of these refugees.

What about inflation?

The Trudeau government, which sees its pan-Canadian child care program and affordable housing strategy as two major bulwarks against inflation, has not presented additional measures to directly help the population cope with the increase. prices.

“The responsibility for controlling inflation is the operational responsibility of the Bank of Canada, and this independence is very important. It is a foundation for Canada’s stability and predictability, ”said Minister Freeland.

Reiterating that “inflation is a global phenomenon”, she made it clear that the document presented on Tuesday is “neither a budget nor a minibudget”, and that the budget to come next spring would contain “structural” measures.