Reading this budget feels like scrolling on Instagram; one moment you see something horrifying, and the next you’re hit with the rich and glamorous flexing their fortunes.
One budget line translates to the elimination of 40,000 jobs and the next gives the military an additional $60 billion. Another line cuts climate programs by at least $3 billion and gives handouts to the fossil fuel industry while gutting the oil and gas emissions cap and greenwashing legislation.
Refugee admissions are cut by the thousands while middle and upper income earners get tax cuts. This government is set on worsening wealth inequality – they’re even cutting the luxury tax on yachts and private planes! This budget presents a bleak vision of the future, one where the rich and powerful only gain more ground while the rest of us working people are left behind. That future is unacceptable!
We need a Peoples’ Agenda, not the corporate agenda this budget presents. We’re told it’s time to tighten our belts, but we know the austerity narrative is false. Canadians for Tax Fairness argue that “a progressive wealth tax on net worth over $10 million would raise over $37 billion in the first year and impact only 0.6% of all Canadians.” There is more than enough money to fund good green jobs and social services, but only if our government prioritizes its people over profits.
The budget slashed funding for key programs that retrofitted buildings and funded public transit systems–both of which begin to address the climate and affordability crises. Cities’ largest sources of emissions come from buildings and transportation, just as home-heating and transportation represent large monthly costs for Canadians.
The government is winding down the Canada Greener Homes Grant, which was a start at reducing building emissions by funding energy efficient home retrofits–though limited to homeowners. We need a much bigger and bolder program. One that retrofits all existing housing stock and builds energy efficient, climate resilient, non-market housing to further slash emissions and tackle the housing crisis.
Similarly, the Canada Public Transit Fund, which supports municipalities to fund transit infrastructure, has been cut. This is at a time when municipalities across the country are struggling to keep their public transit systems functioning, and depend increasingly on federal funding to maintain and expand their services. Expanded and free public transit makes cities more accessible and greener, and is becoming a popular policy proposal; Zohran Mamdani’s successful New York City mayoral campaign featured a promise to make city buses free. Most Canadians view public transit as an essential service and support its increased funding.
These are just two of many examples of these kinds of attacks in the budget. We need society-scale solutions that put people ahead of corporate profit. We need a government that invests in long lasting climate and affordability solutions instead of foreclosing them.
A serious government would put forward a People’s Agenda ushering in massive investments in public services and social programs allowing our communities to thrive. Such an agenda would provide work for millions of people to build a climate-safe future, wind down the fossil fuel industry and build the infrastructure we sorely need.
It is hard to put into words how devastating this budget is on so many fronts. This government has shown its cards and demonstrated its unwillingness to meet the current moment and ensure the wellbeing of generations to come. That is why we must force the hand of the government to change course. We will not sit and wait for politicians to care about our future. We at Common Horizon are building power and support around meaningful solutions to the affordability and climate crises. It’s time to stop doomscrolling and get to work.
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