Wealthy should pay their share

Who is paying for COVID-19 recovery? MP Cannings wants the wealthy to pay their share.

Penticton – The NDP took centre stage this past week as they tabled a motion in the House of Commons addressing what many Canadians are worrying about – who will pay the economic costs of the pandemic and for the recovery that must follow?

“While families in the South Okanagan-West Kootenay are still struggling and many others are worrying about how we’ll recover, the super-rich and biggest corporations have made billions off the pandemic. In fact, Canadian billionaires are $37 billion richer since the COVID-19 lockdown in March. They’re not struggling, they’ve profited off this crisis and many have avoided paying their fair share of taxes by hiding billions of dollars offshore every year. It is wrong” said Cannings.

The NDP motion envisioned a new one percent tax on wealth over $20 million and an excess profit tax on big corporations that have been profiteering from the pandemic. The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) has estimated the wealth tax would generate $5.6 billion in 2020-21.

The NDP motion also included details on how the billions would be reinvested in programs to help all Canadians. “We want to expand health care to include a national dental care program and a universal, single payer, public pharmacare program” said Cannings. The NDP motion also proposed a guaranteed livable income for all Canadians and more affordable housing.

The policies have long been part of the NDP platform. Now, however, the NDP holds significant influence with Canada’s minority government. Cannings is one of 24 NDP MPs that hold the balance of power and they have used their small but powerful numbers to hold the Liberal government to task on COVID supports. The Canadian Emergency Relief Benefit (CERB) was born out of an NDP proposal, as was improving the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) from 10% to 75%. Both programs were recently extended and expanded due to NDP pressure. The NDP lobbied for months to get supports for students, seniors, renters, and paid sick leave for all Canadian workers, one by one, the government agreed.

Trudeau’s Liberals campaigned on a national pharmacare program but have yet to take any steps toward its implementation. If this recent NDP motion is successful, Canadians could see significant movement on dental care and pharmacare as early as next spring.

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For more information, please contact:

Office of Richard Cannings, MP: 250 770 4480