While the federal government’s upcoming Fall Economic Statement is not a full budget, it’s still an important opportunity for needed investments into some of the most pressing issues facing Waterloo Region. It’s with this in mind that I’ve been amplifying six calls from our community, along with proposals to pay for them, that would be particularly feasible to implement.
As part of this, I’ve been advocating for reasonable extensions of existing measures. One example is extending HST relief – already available to for-profit developers of rental housing – to non-profit affordable home ownership builders to increase our affordable housing supply. This measure would have left Habitat for Humanity’s Kehl Street build with an additional million to invest in affordable units for their Kehl Street build, and we could pay for it by just ending a tax exemption for large corporate investors who largely buy up existing affordable housing and jack up prices.
I’m also advocating to invest in proven affordability and climate solutions – like reducing fares and increasing service on public transit, or providing free heat pumps to ease the strain for those living in energy poverty – by extending the windfall profit tax to the record-breaking profits of the oil and gas industry.
Next, I’m amplifying calls for this government to keep its promises. This includes those made to the disability community, by urging them to fix the Canada Disability Benefit – including increasing the benefit amount to lift people with disabilities above the poverty line. We could pay for this poverty reduction measure by ending the $18.5 billion in annual federal subsidies to oil and gas companies, who already raked in over $66 billion in profits in 2022 alone. This government also needs to keep its promises around reconciliation, including by closing infrastructure gaps in First Nations communities – like the one at Six Nations of the Grand River that’s left 70% of those living on reserve without access to clean water from the tap.
Finally, I’m pushing for two specific calls to help our community receive our fair share of federal resources: ensuring hotspots for the poisoned drug crisis like Waterloo Region receive critical dollars for substance use and addictions services (we received nothing in the last round of funding), and restoring arts funding to 2021 levels while at the same time applying the Regional Development Framework to those dollars so that underfunded communities like ours get an equitable share.
If you’d like to learn more about these calls, you can find more in the letter I hand-delivered to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.