Archived - Part 2: 
Creating Jobs and Growth

Chapter 3:
New Opportunities for Canadians

In planning for Canada’s economic recovery, the government’s first order of business is to heal the specific wounds of the COVID-19 recession.

The impact has been even more uneven than previous recessions. Some sectors, many large businesses, and many wealthier Canadians have done quite well. They have managed to keep working during the pandemic, have absorbed the customers from locked-down small business competitors, and have seen their homes and other assets grow in value.

The COVID-19 recession has had its worst impact on many of the most vulnerable people in Canada—primarily low-wage workers, young people, racialized workers, and women. It has affected businesses that disproportionately employ these people.

Today, about 296,000 people are still out of work, and 247,000 are facing sharply reduced work hours, and with that reduced wages, and reduced access to opportunities.

Lessons from recessions of the past make it clear that a recovery that focuses on GDP alone is one that risks leaving people behind.

The government’s COVID-19 recovery plan puts people first. It is targeted at the groups that have been most affected, to make sure they are part of our recovery. It does so by making higher education more affordable and reducing the burden of student debt for more Canadians in need. It does so by improving conditions for workers struggling to make ends meet—or those trying to rejoin the workforce after a difficult time. It is about supporting the middle class and helping more people join the middle class.

In the 2020 Speech from the Throne, the Government of Canada launched a campaign to create over one million jobs, restoring employment to pre-pandemic levels including through historic investments in training that will skill up workers.

Budget 2021 will create almost 500,000 new job and training opportunities for workers over coming years—including  215,000 new opportunities for youth.

Most importantly, Budget 2021 makes a generational investment in a Canada-wide system of affordable child care.

3.1 Women in the Economy

COVID-19 has affected all Canadians, but women have been disproportionately affected.

In the labour market, women were hit earlier and harder, and their jobs continue to recover more slowly.

The closure of schools and child care centres has exacerbated work-life balance challenges for women as they have overwhelmingly borne the burdens of unpaid care work. This has made it more difficult for some women to work full time, for some to work at all, and for many women it has worsened their mental health.

For far too long, the work women do, paid and unpaid, has been systematically devalued by our economy and by our society. Long-standing gender inequities have only been amplified over the course of the pandemic—and it has put decades of hard-fought gains for women in the workplace at risk. Today, more than 16,000 women have dropped out of the labour force completely, while the male labour force has grown by 91,000. This is a she-cession.

Budget 2021 lays out an expansive jobs and growth plan that is very much a feminist plan. It seeks to build a recovery that gives all women in Canada the ability to fully participate in our economy.

The government recognizes the many different lived experiences of women—experiences shaped by racial identity, income level, disabilities, geography, and more. Budget 2021 seeks to build a recovery that acknowledges that many women start from a position of disadvantage in the workforce, in the demands placed upon them in the care economy, in their access to resources and capital as entrepreneurs, in their access to health care, and in the threat of violence they disproportionately face.

In March, the Government of Canada created a Task Force on Women in the Economy to help guide a robust, inclusive, and feminist recovery and to help address long-standing systemic barriers. Composed of a diverse group of experts and leading voices, the task force has begun advising the government on policies and measures to support women’s employment and address issues of gender equality in the wake of the pandemic. In particular, the task force has provided advice on early learning and child care, support for youth, and women who work in low-wage jobs. The members provide feedback with an intersectional lens that is instrumental in this budget and will continue to provide advice on the path forward.

The work of creating a more inclusive, sustainable, feminist, and resilient economy that values women’s work will take time. The government will continue its progress to build a feminist, intersectional Action Plan for Women in the Economy that will work to push past systemic barriers and inequities, for good. This will create an economy that works for everyone and build a stronger middle class.

A Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Plan

More than 50 years ago, the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada called on the federal government to immediately begin working with provinces and territories to establish a national daycare plan. Generations of Canadians have waited for their government to answer this call.

The pandemic has made access to early learning and child care a universal issue that is resonating across sectors, regions, and income brackets. School and child care centre closures have been difficult for parents. Some have had to leave their jobs, or reduce their hours significantly. Without access to child care, parents cannot fully participate in our economy.  

This is an economic issue as much as it is a social issue. Child care is essential social infrastructure. It is the care work that is the backbone of our economy. Just as roads and transit support our economic growth, so too does child care.

Investing in early learning and child care offers a jobs-and-growth hat trick: it provides jobs for workers, the majority of whom are women; it enables parents, particularly mothers, to reach their full economic potential; and it creates a generation of engaged and well prepared young learners.

Studies by Canadians Dr. Fraser Mustard and the Honourable Margaret McCain have shown that early learning is at least as important to lifelong development as elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education—it improves graduation rates, promotes lifelong well-being, boosts lifetime earnings, and increases social equity.

Yet, early learning and child care can be more expensive than university tuition in some cities—something families have decades longer to save up for. The pandemic has shifted the public understanding of how access to child care supports children, their families, and our economy. The clear benefits of early learning and child care should not be a luxury for only the Canadian families that can afford it. Lack of access is not a choice, nor are unaffordable fees. The current system is leaving too many children and families behind, particularly low-income and racialized families. Every child deserves a fair start.

The high cost of child care—in some urban centres fees for one child can be as much as rent or mortgage payments—is a tax on a segment of the population that Canada requires to drive economic growth. Young families are juggling sky high housing costs, the increasing cost of living, expected to save up for their retirements, while managing child care fees.

The very best example of the economic power of an affordable, well-run early learning and child care system is Quebec. At the time the Québec Educational Childcare Act was instituted in 1997, women’s labour force participation rate in Quebec was four percentage points lower than the rest of Canada. Today it is four points higher. And Quebec women with children under three have some of the highest employment rates in the world. Furthermore, studies show that child care alone has raised Quebec’s GDP by 1.7 per cent.

Furthermore, TD Economics has pointed to a range of studies that have shown that for every dollar spent on early childhood education, the broader economy receives between $1.50 and $2.80 in return.

Beyond the simple economic facts, it is also a question about the kind of Canada we want. Early learning and child care represents a chance for the country to offer each and every child the best start in life. It represents an equalizer, a way to build communities, a bold feminist policy, and the most effective step we can take to support our economy in the short, medium and long term. It is about making sure that everyone has the same access to opportunities, even from their youngest age.  

It is time for the rest of Canada to learn from Quebec’s example. A Canada-wide early learning and child care plan is a plan to drive economic growth, a plan to secure women’s place in the workforce, and a plan to give every Canadian child the same head start. It is a plan to build an economy that is more productive, more competitive, and more dynamic. It is a plan to grow the middle class and help people working hard to join it.

Establishing a Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care System

The federal government will work with provincial, territorial, and Indigenous partners to build a Canada-wide, community-based system of quality child care. This will be a transformative project on a scale with the work of previous generations of Canadians, who built a public school system and public health care. This is a legacy investment for today’s children who will not only benefit from, but also inherit this system.

Just as public school provides children with quality education in their neighbourhoods, the government’s goal is to ensure that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early learning and child care no matter where they live. The government will also ensure that families in Canada are no longer burdened by high child care costs—with the goal of bringing fees for regulated child care down to $10 per day on average within the next five years. By the end of 2022, the government is aiming to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in average fees for regulated early learning and child care to make it more affordable for families. These targets would apply everywhere outside of Quebec, where prices are already affordable through its well-established system.

To support this vision, Budget 2021 proposes new investments totaling up to $30 billion over the next 5 years, and $8.3 billion ongoing for Early Learning and Child Care and Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care, as outlined below.

The government’s plan ensures that gains are secured for generations to come by making this historic commitment a lasting one, while also recognizing that building the quality system we want will take time.

Combined with previous investments announced since 2015, a minimum of $9.2 billion per year ongoing will be invested in child care, including Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care, starting in 2025-26.

This once-in-a-generation transformation will take time and hard work from all orders of government—and that is why the next five years are focused on meaningful goals for families and setting the right foundations for success.

• Up to $27.2 billion over five years, starting in 2021-22 will bring the federal government to a 50/50 share of child care costs with provincial and territorial governments, as part of initial 5-year agreements. Future objectives and distribution of funding, starting in year six, would be determined based on an understanding of need and progress achieved as part of this initial plan. Gender-Based Analysis+

Over the next five years, the government will work with provinces and territories to make meaningful progress towards a system that works for families. The aforementioned federal funding would allow for:

• A 50 per cent reduction in average fees for regulated early learning and child care in all provinces outside of Quebec, to be delivered before or by the end of 2022.
• An average of $10 a day by 2025-26 for all regulated child care spaces in Canada.
• Ongoing annual growth in quality affordable child care spaces across the country, building on the approximately 40,000 new spaces already created through previous federal investments.
• Meaningful progress in improving and expanding before- and after-school care in order to provide more flexibility for working parents.



The next five years of the plan will also focus on building the right foundations for a community-based and truly Canada-wide system of child care. This includes:

• Working with provinces and territories to support primarily not-for-profit sector child care providers to grow quality spaces across the country while ensuring that families in all licensed spaces benefit from more affordable child care.
• A growing, qualified workforce—with provincial and territorial partners, the government will work to ensure that early childhood educators are at the heart of the system, by valuing their work and providing them with the training and development opportunities needed to support their growth and the growth of a quality system of child care. Over 95 per cent of child care workers are women, many of whom are making low wages, with a median wage of $19.20 per hour.
• A strong basis for accountability to Canadians—the government will work with provincial and territorial partners to build a strong baseline of common, publicly available data on which to measure progress, report to Canadians, and help continuously improve the system. 

Quebec has been a pioneer of early learning and child care in Canada, with outcomes for children and families that have been studied around the world. However, the Quebec experience has also illustrated that building a system is complex, and that phased and sustained investments are required to ensure that everyone has access to the same quality of care at affordable prices. These are valuable lessons for a pan-Canadian system. To build on the current bilateral agreements:

• Budget 2021 proposes to proceed with an asymmetrical agreement with the province of Quebec that will allow for further improvements to their system, which the people of Quebec are rightly proud of. Gender-Based Analysis+

In addition, the federal government will authorize the transfer of 2021-22 funding as soon as bilateral agreements are reached with the provinces and territories, enabled by a proposed statutory appropriation.

Supporting Accessible Child Care Spaces

For families that have children with disabilities, it is often challenging to find affordable and accessible child care spaces that meet their needs.  

• To make immediate progress for children with disabilities, Budget 2021 proposes to provide $29.2 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to Employment and Social Development Canada through the Enabling Accessibility Fund to support child care centres as they improve their physical accessibility. This funding, which could benefit over 400 child care centres, would support improvements such as the construction of ramps and accessible doors, washrooms, and play structures. Gender-Based Analysis+

Addressing the Needs of Indigenous Families and Communities

Early learning and child care programs designed by and with Indigenous families and communities give Indigenous children the best start in life. This is a critical part of reconciliation.

Canada’s Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework, co-developed with Indigenous partners in 2018, adopts a distinctions-based approach to strengthening high-quality, culturally appropriate child care for Indigenous children guided by Indigenous priorities.

• Budget 2021 builds on this framework, and on recent investments in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, to continue the progress towards an early learning and child care system that meets the needs of Indigenous families, wherever they live. A proposed investment of $2.5 billion over the next five years in Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care will include: Gender-Based Analysis+
• $1.4 billion over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $385 million ongoing, to ensure that more Indigenous families have access to high-quality programming. Guided by Indigenous priorities and distinctions-based envelopes, this investment will build Indigenous governance capacity and allow providers to offer more flexible and full-time hours of care, build, train and retain a skilled workforce, and create up to 3,300 new spaces. This will include new investments in Aboriginal Head Start in Urban and Northern Communities.
• $515 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $112 million ongoing, to support before and after-school care for First Nations children on reserve.
• $264 million over four years, starting in 2022-23, and $24 million ongoing, to repair and renovate existing Indigenous early learning and child care centres, ensuring a safe and healthy environment for children and staff.
• $420 million over three years, starting in 2023-24, and $21 million ongoing, to build and maintain new centres in additional communities. The government will work with Indigenous partners to identify new infrastructure priorities.

To ensure these vital programs continue to grow along with the communities they serve, program funding will increase by 3 per cent each year starting in 2027-28.

Bringing Partners Together to Build and Maintain a Canada-Wide Child Care System

This ambitious plan requires strong leadership from the federal government—built on an open and collaborative relationship with partners and stakeholders in order to meet the needs of families. Early learning and child care investments in Budget 2017 brought all provinces and territories into bilateral agreements that have been successfully delivering results driven by quality, accessibility, and affordability.  These shared priorities will be the platform for the development of a quality pan-Canadian system.

• Building on recent investments in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, an additional $34.5 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $3.5 million ongoing, would be provided to Employment and Social Development Canada to strengthen capacity within the new Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care. Gender-Based Analysis+

This will include, in the coming months, the creation of a new National Advisory Council to provide expert advice and a forum for consultation on issues and challenges facing the early learning and child care sector. This council would reflect Canada’s geographic, cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic diversity and would include experts from across the sector.

To further support a lasting federal commitment over time, the government is committed to tabling federal early learning and child care legislation in fall 2021—following consultations with stakeholders, provincial, territorial, and Indigenous partners—to enshrine the principles of a Canada-wide child care system in law.

Strengthening Diversity in Corporate Governance

To foster inclusivity in the financial sector and ensure Canada’s financial institutions are responding to changing social and economic conditions:

• Budget 2021 proposes a public consultation on measures that would adapt and apply the Canada Business Corporations Act diversity requirements to federally regulated financial institutions. This objective is to promote greater gender, racial, ethnic, and Indigenous diversity among senior ranks of the financial sector and ensure more Canadians have access to these opportunities. Details on the consultation will be announced in the near future. Gender-Based Analysis+

In addition, Budget 2021 proposes that Crown corporations will be required to implement gender and diversity reporting, starting in 2022.

3.2 Opportunities for Canada’s Youth

In many ways, the COVID-19 recession has been a sacrifice of younger generations to protect their elders. Young people have been isolated at a time of life normally marked by studying, vibrant and growing social lives, travel, and a variety of crucial work experiences that help them find their path.

Instead, young people have stayed home—and many have lost their jobs.

Young people were among the hardest and fastest hit when the pandemic struck—experiencing more job losses than any other age demographic. They have also experienced the worst decline in mental health of any age group. And even through these challenges, young people stepped up to advocate, volunteer, and serve in their communities, helping them get through the pandemic.

We cannot let them be a lost generation. Young Canadians must be at the centre of our recovery not only to help them rebound today, but to invest in their future success and the future success of our economy.

Since the start of the pandemic, the government has had young people’s backs, providing over $7.4 billion to support young Canadians through this difficult time. This included a six-month moratorium on student loan payments at the start of the pandemic, doubling the Canada Student Grants for the 2020-2021 school year, supporting almost 200,000 new youth work opportunities and experiences, and providing income support to over 700,000 students through the Canada Emergency Student Benefit.

Budget 2021 builds on Canada’s investments in youth with over $5.7 billion over the next five years to help young Canadians—including from low-income households—pursue and complete their education, to provide additional relief from student loan debt for young graduates, and to create 215,000 new job skills development and work opportunities.  

Taken together, the Government of Canada’s response to the current crisis represents the largest ever investment in young Canadians—totaling $13.1 billion over six years. This represents one of the largest youth support packages from around the world. Canada’s growth and prosperity well into the future depends on new opportunities for young people today.  

Providing Relief from Student Debt

Education is the smartest investment anyone can make. To ease new grads into working life and make sure they are not prematurely burdened by loan repayments, Budget 2019 made the six-month grace period after leaving studies interest free. And during the pandemic, the government imposed a six-month moratorium on all student loan repayment, and committed to a one-year suspension of interest accrual on student loans in 2021-22.

To provide even further support to students and recent graduates, Budget 2021 is reforming the Canada Student Loans Program. The new Canada Student Financial Assistance Program will make student debt easier to pay down and provide direct support to students with the greatest need.

Provinces and territories that do not currently participate in the Canada Student Loans Program will continue to receive equivalent compensation from the Government of Canada for their own student financial assistance programs that offer comparable benefits to the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program. 

Waiving Interest on Student Loans for an Additional Year

To ensure that the cost of post-secondary education in Canada remains predictable and affordable for everyone during the economic recovery:

• The government proposes to introduce legislation that would extend the waiver of interest accrual on Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans until March 31, 2023. This change has an estimated cost of $392.7 million in 2022-23. Gender-Based Analysis+

This action would mean savings for approximately 1.5 million Canadians repaying student loans, the majority of whom are women.

Enhancing Repayment Assistance

Every year, the Government of Canada provides repayment assistance to approximately 350,000 borrowers with low incomes. Currently, the threshold for this support is earning $25,000 per year or less, for a single borrower. To ensure that no federal student loan borrower ever has to make a payment they cannot afford:

• Budget 2021 proposes to increase the threshold for repayment assistance to $40,000 for borrowers living alone, so that nobody earning $40,000 per year or less will need to make any payments on their student loans. Gender-Based Analysis+
• This will support an estimated 121,000 additional Canadians with student loan debt each year.
• For students from larger households the threshold will be modified to match the Canada Student Grants. For example, for a household with four individuals, the 2020-21 Canada Student Grant cut-off is $63,735, which rises with inflation, while the current repayment assistance threshold is $59,508.
• Additionally, the cap on monthly student loan payments will be reduced from 20 per cent of household income to 10 per cent.
• To ensure that the eligibility for repayment assistance keeps pace with the cost of living, the new income cut-offs will be indexed to inflation.
• Beginning in 2022-23, these changes will cost an estimated $203.5 million over four years, and $64.2 million per year ongoing.

Doubling the Canada Student Grants for Two Additional Years

Over 580,000 students each year rely on federal grants and loans to help them cover the cost of their tuition, school supplies, and living expenses. When the pandemic caused other sources of income for students—such as part-time jobs—to dry up, the Government of Canada helped out by doubling Canada Student Grants for the 2020-2021 school year, providing an additional $2,600, on average, of non-repayable aid to students in need. This effectively covered 90 per cent of the average undergraduate tuition in Canada for low-income students during the pandemic.

Table 3.1
Canada Student Grants

	Maximum Amount in 2014	Maximum Amount in 2019	Maximum Amount in 2021
Full-Time Students	$2,000	$3,000	$6,000
Part-Time Students	$1,200	$1,800	$3,600
Students with Dependants (Full-Time)	$1,600 (per dependant)	$1,600 (per dependant)	$3,200 (per dependant)
Students with Dependants (Part-Time)	$1,920	$1,920	$3,840
Students with Disabilities	$2,000	$2,000	$4,000

To ensure students from low-income households remain supported throughout COVID-19 and continue to have access to this opportunity as the economy recovers:

• The government is announcing its intention to extend the doubling of the Canada Student Grants until the end of July 2023. Gender-Based Analysis+

The cost of this measure is estimated at $3.1 billion over two years starting in 2021-22.

Provinces and territories that do not currently participate in the Canada Student Loans Program will continue to receive equivalent compensation from the Government of Canada for their own student financial assistance programs that offer comparable benefits to the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program. 

Expanding Access to Supports for Students and Borrowers with Disabilities

Students with disabilities face some of the highest costs and most significant barriers to long-term success. Every year, the Canada Student Loans Program supports over 75,000 students and borrowers with permanent disabilities through enhanced grants and repayment assistance. But these supports are not available to students whose disabilities are not lifelong.

• The government is announcing its intention to extend disability supports under the Canada Student Loans Program to recipients whose disabilities are persistent or prolonged, but not necessarily permanent. Gender-Based Analysis+

This change will benefit an estimated 40,000 recipients with non-permanent disabilities each year through access to up to $22,000 in grants, in-study supports, and specialized repayment assistance on their loans. Beginning in 2022-23, the estimated cost of this measure will be $428.9 million over four years, and $118.6 million per year ongoing.

Supporting Vulnerable Children and Youth During the Recovery

COVID-19 has made life especially difficult for students at risk of dropping out of school. These students rely on local after-school programs for tutoring, counselling, and other social supports that help them stay in school, graduate on-time, and access post-secondary education. As the pandemic drives education online and dries up private donations, these organizations continue to rely on their government to bridge the gap and support their vital missions.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $118.4 million over two years starting in 2021-22, for Employment and Social Development Canada to conduct a two-year pilot expansion of federal investments in after-school programming under the Supports for Student Learning Program. These funds would support national and local after-school organizations who work to ensure that vulnerable children and youth can graduate high school and do not become further marginalized because of the pandemic. Of this amount, $20 million will be reallocated from internal resources within the department. Gender-Based Analysis+

Helping Youth and Students Build Job Skills and Connect with Employers

Young Canadians have seen more job losses due to COVID-19 than any other age demographic. This not only deprives them of income that could be used to pay for schooling, build their savings, or cover basic living expenses, but can also lead to long-term consequences by disrupting important experiences in the crucial early years of their working lives. These impacts are often more severe for youth facing multiple barriers to employment such as Indigenous youth, racialized and Black youth, and newcomers to Canada.

To ensure youth and students can access valuable job skills and experience, Budget 2021 is proposing to invest $721 million in the next two years to help connect them with employers and provide them with quality job opportunities.

Student Work Placement Program

• Budget 2021 proposes to invest $239.8 million in the Student Work Placement Program in 2021-22 to support work-integrated learning opportunities for post-secondary students. This funding would increase the wage subsidy available for employers to 75 per cent, up to $7,500 per student, while also increasing employers’ ability to access the program. This is expected to provide 50,000 young people (an increase of 20,000) with valuable experience-building opportunities in 2021-22.  Gender-Based Analysis+

Youth Employment and Skills Strategy

• Budget 2021 proposes to invest $109.3 million in 2022-23 for the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy to better meet the needs of vulnerable youth facing multiple barriers to employment, while also supporting over 7,000 additional job placements for youth. This builds on funding announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, which is expected to result in over 30,600 new placements in 2021-22. This will make it easier for young people to get good jobs. Gender-Based Analysis+

Canada Summer Jobs

• Budget 2021 proposes to invest $371.8 million in new funding for Canada Summer Jobs in 2022-23 to support approximately 75,000 new job placements in the summer of 2022. This is in addition to 2020 Fall Economic Statement funding for approximately 94,000 additional job placements in 2021-22. In total, the Canada Summer Jobs program will support around 220,000 summer jobs over the next two years.   Gender-Based Analysis+

3.3 Investing in Skills, Training, and Trades

COVID-19 laid bare the inequalities in our workforce. From single mothers, to newcomers, to racialized Canadians, to young Canadians gaining their first job experience, many who could not work from home were those who faced barriers to work in the first place.

As the economy reopens, those opportunities will come back, but our need to adapt to the changing nature of work—including new technologies, industries, and ways of working—will only increase.

Getting Canadians back to work means giving workers in all sectors—from energy, to manufacturing, to construction, to customer service—the skills they need for good jobs. COVID-19 has changed the way many employers do business, eliminating certain jobs, and growing the need for new skills. Investing in new skills gives Canadians opportunities to find good jobs, in growing fields, and strengthen the middle class.

Every year, the federal government transfers around $3 billion to the provinces and territories so they can support workers and help them develop the in-demand skills for their economies.

Budget 2021 looks to the future by better connecting workers to good jobs in growing sectors, by creating new opportunities and increasing diversity in the trades, and helping Canadians gain the foundational skills needed to succeed in today’s economy.

Table 3.2
Almost 500,000 New Training and Work Opportunities for Canadians, starting 2021

Measure	Number of new opportunites (5 year timeframe)
For Youth
Student Work Placement Program	20,000
Youth Employment and Skills Strategy	7,000
Canada Summer Jobs	75,000
Mitacs (see Chapter 4)	85,000
Canada Digital Adoption Program (see Chapter 4)	28,000
For Core Working Age
Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program	90,000
Apprenticeship Service	55,000
Skills for Success	90,000
Community Workforce Development Program	25,000
Transitioning Workers to New Jobs	15,500

Helping Employers Train and Recruit Workers

Certain sectors like health, clean tech, and construction have grown and are struggling to find workers with the right skills to fill jobs. The government wants these sectors to keep growing so that Canada can build a healthy and clean economy. That is why it is taking action to help employers train and reskill people and help the workforce grow and meet demand. To help Canadians gain skills for good jobs in growing sectors:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $960 million over three years, beginning in 2021-22, to Employment and Social Development Canada for a new Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program. Working primarily with sector associations and employers, funding would help design and deliver training that is relevant to the needs of businesses, especially small and medium-sized businesses, and to their employees. This funding would also help businesses recruit and retain a diverse and inclusive workforce. Gender-Based Analysis+

This investment will help connect up to 90,000 Canadians with the training they need to access good jobs in sectors where employers are looking for skilled workers. This includes sectors like health, including the need for more accredited personal support workers, clean energy, as well as construction. It will also help diversify sectors by ensuring that 40 per cent of supported workers are from underrepresented groups, including women, persons with disabilities, and Indigenous people.  

Creating New Opportunities for Skilled Tradespeople

The skilled trades are vital to our economy, and apprenticeships are the bridge that help skilled workers, especially young people starting their careers, connect with businesses and find well-paying jobs. Since 2014, Canada has seen a decline in new apprentices for well-paying middle class jobs. In 2019, it was estimated Canada needs to attract 167,000 new apprentices over the next five years just to align with existing levels of demand.

Every year, the Government of Canada provides about $90 million through 60,000 grants to support apprentices—but more is needed to ensure that those apprentices can find valuable work experiences and that employers can tap into this pool of skilled workers.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $470 million over three years, beginning in 2021-22, to Employment and Social Development Canada to establish a new Apprenticeship Service. The Apprenticeship Service would help 55,000 first-year apprentices in construction and manufacturing Red Seal trades connect with opportunities at small and medium-sized employers. Gender-Based Analysis+

Employers would be eligible to receive up to $5,000 for all first-year apprenticeship opportunities to pay for upfront costs such as salaries and training.

In addition, to boost diversity in the construction and manufacturing Red Seal trades, this incentive will be doubled to $10,000 for employers who hire those underrepresented, including women, racialized Canadians, and persons with disabilities. 

Supporting Skills for Success

The skills needs of businesses are changing as they adopt new technologies and new ways of doing things. Yet, today, 45 per cent of Canadians lack the literacy, numeracy, and digital skills that are increasingly necessary to succeed in jobs in the knowledge economy.

• Budget 2021 proposes to invest $298 million over three years, beginning in 2021-22, through Employment and Social Development Canada, in a new Skills for Success program that would help Canadians at all skills levels improve their foundational and transferable skills. Gender-Based Analysis+

The program will fund organizations to design and deliver training to enhance foundational skills such as literacy and numeracy, as well as transferable and soft skills. This could include helping employers deliver training to increase communication and teamwork skills of their employees, or community organizations looking to strengthen basic literacy and numeracy of marginalized groups. Additionally, funding will support the creation of assessments and training resources available online to all Canadians at no cost.

Approximately 90,000 Canadians will be able to improve their literacy and essential skills to better prepare for, get and keep a job, and adapt and succeed at work.

Ensuring Communities Recover Through Skills Training and Workforce Planning

For the recovery to succeed, communities must be at the heart of determining their economic futures by diversifying their economies and improving resilience.   

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $55 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Employment and Social Development Canada for a Community Workforce Development Program. The program will support communities to develop local plans that identify high potential growth organizations and connect these employers with training providers to develop and deliver training and work placements to upskill and reskill jobseekers to fill jobs in demand. Gender-Based Analysis+

Funding would be delivered through calls for proposals under two streams: A national stream focused on priority areas, like de-carbonization and supporting a just transition for workers in transforming sectors like energy, which would dedicate 75 per cent of funding to projects that support underrepresented groups; and a regional stream delivered by Service Canada regional offices, in partnership with regional development agencies, and focused on regional priorities.

This initiative will benefit approximately 25,000 workers, 250 businesses, and 25 communities, by accelerating job creation and the re-employment and deployment of workers to growth areas to meet employers’ needs.

Helping Workers Transition to New Jobs

As the economy reopens, many people will return to their previous jobs. But for some, shifts in the economy mean that they need to find new jobs. To address this need, and help Canadians find new jobs as quickly and as easily as possible, workers need to be able to rapidly adapt and upgrade their transferable skills for newer industries.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $250 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada for an initiative to scale-up proven industry-led, third-party delivered approaches to upskill and redeploy workers to meet the needs of growing industries. Gender-Based Analysis+

This initiative will help approximately 15,500 Canadians connect with new work opportunities.

Extending Federal Supports for Adults Who Return to School Full-Time

In 2018, the government launched Skills Boost, a three-year pilot program to help working adults afford the cost of returning to school full-time to upgrade their skills.

• The government intends to extend the $1,600 adult learner top-up to the full-time Canada Student Grant for an additional two school years—until July 2023. This will ensure that benefits to adult students are not interrupted. Gender-Based Analysis+
• Additionally, the government intends to make permanent the flexibility to use current year income instead of the previous year’s to determine eligibility for Canada Student Grants, so students with financial need won’t have their previous workforce participation count against them. Gender-Based Analysis+

Together, these measures are expected to cost $365.8 million over the next five years, and $26.7 million per year ongoing.

Teaching Kids to Code

The CanCode program helps young people gain coding and digital skills needed to succeed in a 21st century economy. It provides training support for their teachers, and has a special focus on reaching young people who are traditionally underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, such as girls and Indigenous youth.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $80 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, to help CanCode reach 3 million more students—with an even greater focus on underrepresented groups—and 120,000 more teachers. Gender-Based Analysis+

With more opportunities to acquire and develop digital skills, young Canadians—from kindergarten to grade 12—will have a head start in building the skills they need for good jobs in the future.

3.4 Valuing Canada’s Workers

The pandemic exposed what we already knew: Too many Canadians work in precarious jobs and have barely enough to make ends meet.

Many of these workers are young people, new Canadians, racialized and Black Canadians, and women.

Recovery must start with improving working wages and addressing income inequality in Canada. Measures like an enhanced Canada Workers Benefit, a new $15 federal minimum wage, and better protections for vulnerable workers will lift more Canadians out of poverty, improve the lives of workers, and protect the resilience of our workforce well into the future. 

Establishing a $15 Federal Minimum Wage

Canada’s prosperity and stability depend on every Canadian having a fair chance to join the middle class. Yet some Canadians struggle to do so while supporting families in part-time, temporary, and low-wage jobs—often working several jobs to make ends meet. The COVID-19 pandemic has also increased focus on the essential work done by a large proportion of minimum wage-earning workers. To support low-wage workers in the federally regulated private sector:

• The Government of Canada is announcing its intention to introduce legislation that will establish a federal minimum wage of $15 per hour, rising with inflation, with provisions to ensure that where provincial or territorial minimum wages are higher, that wage will prevail. This will directly benefit over 26,000 workers who currently make less than $15 per hour in the federally regulated private sector. Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting Canada’s Low-Wage Workers



The worst economic impacts of the pandemic have been suffered by those who could least afford it. Low-wage workers have been up to six times more likely to suffer layoffs than wealthy Canadians. Not only that, estimates suggest that today there have been about 268,000 net job losses among low-wage workers since February of 2020, compared to about 40,000 over the same time period during the Great Recession, adjusting for population growth.

Our economic recovery plan must address the unique challenges of the pandemic recession—and must include all Canadians. Racialized and Black Canadians have much higher representation in low-wage work. The pandemic has shown everyone just how essential many of the lowest-paying jobs in Canada are to our economy and our health—the grocery clerks, cleaners, caregivers, truck loaders, and more.

If we are to have a full and fair recovery, Canada needs all of these workers to rejoin the workforce and to make sure they earn a decent living. The full participation of all Canadians in the labour market generates economic growth, and improves the standard of living and quality of life for everyone.

Enhancing the Canada Workers Benefit

The Canada Workers Benefit was designed to reduce barriers to employment for low-income workers by providing them with a sizable tax refund—up to almost $1,400 for single individuals without children and $2,400 for families—delivered through the tax system.

But currently, the threshold of eligibility leaves many of Canada’s low-wage workers out of the program; a person earning minimum wage and working full-time can still be living in poverty, but receive nothing from the Canada Workers Benefit.

In Canada, hard-working people with full-time, low-wage jobs should be able to make ends meet for themselves and their families. To support low-wage workers who have been most negatively affected by the pandemic and make our workforce stronger:

• Budget 2021 proposes to expand the Canada Workers Benefit to support about 1 million additional Canadians in low-wage jobs, helping them return to work and increasing benefits for Canada’s most vulnerable. Gender-Based Analysis+

The government would raise the income level at which the benefit starts being reduced to $22,944 for single individuals without children and to $26,177 for families. This means that for the first time, most full-time workers earning minimum wage will receive significant support from this important benefit.

Benefit to Full-Time Workers

A single, full-time, minimum wage worker could receive about $1,000 more in benefits than they would under the current system, and could continue to receive the benefit at up to $32,000 of net income in 2021.  

The proposed enhancement will especially benefit single workers without children. These are workers who often have few other federal supports available to them. For example, a typical worker living in Toronto working full time at the minimum wage does not receive any Canada Workers Benefit under the current system. By raising their entitlement to $1,100, the proposed enhancement would lift this worker out of poverty.   



The government also recognizes that benefits targeted on the basis of family income can deter secondary earners in couples from going back to work. More often than not, this impacts women. An inclusive recovery is a feminist recovery, and the Canadian economy cannot be competitive when everyone does not have the chance to succeed. To further boost workforce participation by reducing these barriers:

• Budget 2021 proposes to allow secondary earners to exclude up to $14,000 of their working income when income-testing the Canada Workers Benefit. Gender-Based Analysis+

Example

Maria’s partner earns $25,000 per year. Because of the pandemic, Maria was out of work for some time, but she has found a job and will earn $20,000 this year. Without the proposed secondary earner exemption, Maria’s family’s entitlement to the Canada Workers Benefit (CWB) would be reduced from $2,403 to $0 when Maria goes back to work. With the secondary earner exemption, $14,000 is excluded from Maria’s family’s net income, which means Maria’s family’s net income is about $31,000, and her family’s CWB entitlement is $1,708. 



Increasing support through the Canada Workers Benefit will provide incentives for more workers to rejoin the workforce, and ensure that they have more disposable income to spend, stimulating the broader economy. Raising the Canada Workers Benefit raises low-wage workers’ quality of life, and raises prosperity for everyone.

These changes will extend support to about 1 million more Canadians, helping them return to work and increasing benefits for Canada’s most vulnerable. Combined, these actions would provide $8.9 billion of support to low-income workers over six years, and $1.7 billion per year ongoing.

Almost 100,000 people will be lifted out of poverty by this investment. Because lower-wage work is often done by younger Canadians, it is estimated that about 45 per cent of adults raised out of poverty as a result of this measure will be those under age 35.

This is a key part of the government’s plan to make sure Canada’s recovery addresses those most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and that it is a plan for a recovery that includes everyone. This is good economic policy. It is also the right thing to do. No Canadian working full time should live in poverty.

Better Labour Protection for Gig Workers

As demand for gig work (short-term contracts with firms or individuals to complete specific and often one-off tasks) increases with the rise in new digital platforms, more and more Canadians are relying on jobs that do not come with the same level of job protection as other employees in the economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of these workers to income shocks when demand for their services suddenly drops. For this reason:

• Budget 2021 reiterates the government’s commitment to making legislative changes to improve labour protection for gig workers, including those who work through digital platforms. Following the conclusion of consultations recently launched on this topic by the Minister of Labour, the government will bring forward amendments to the Canada Labour Code to make these new, modernized protections a reality. Gender-Based Analysis+

Enhancing Protections for Contract Workers in the Air Transportation Sector

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of protecting employees, particularly those who provide essential services to Canadians. Many employees in the air transportation sector have continued to work through the pandemic, deep cleaning aircraft, safely handling baggage, and performing the other critical services that have allowed necessary air travel to continue safely.

Many of the services provided by these employees are contracted out by airports and air carriers. When these contracts change hands, workers are at risk of earning less money for the same job.

• To better protect these employees, the government is announcing its intention to introduce legislation that would extend equal remuneration protection to more employees in the air transportation sector. This would ensure that, when a service contract changes hands, affected employees are not paid less, if they are laid off and rehired to do the same work they were doing before. Gender-Based Analysis+

Simplifying Wage Earner Protection Program Payments

The Wage Earner Protection Program provides financial support to Canadian workers who have lost their job and are owed wages by their insolvent employer. Since 2008, the Program has paid more than $337 million in wages to nearly 129,000 Canadian workers. Currently, all payments through the Program are subject to a 6.82 per cent deduction that represents the deductions at source a worker would normally see on their pay. However, given that there is a cap to overall payments, the amount received in relation to owed wages varies from worker to worker. 

• In order to simplify payments, and ensure that Canadian workers are paid more of what they’re owed when they need it most, Budget 2021 proposes to eliminate the 6.82 per cent deduction applied to all Wage Earner Protection Program payments. This change is estimated to cost $16.2 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $3.3 million ongoing. Gender-Based Analysis+

The removal of this offset would put an average of $300 more in the pockets of Canadians who have lost their job and are owed wages by their employer.

Support for Personal Support Workers

The caring economy is an economic engine of Canada. As our population ages it will become even more important. Throughout the pandemic, this largely female and disproportionately racialized workforce did essential and heroic work, often at great personal cost.

Personal support workers have had to stand in for family members as our parents and grandparents have been isolated, lonely, and afraid. Personal support workers perform jobs that are mentally and physically exhausting, and do not enjoy the same job protections, compensation, and benefits of their peers in the health care sector. They are the backbone of long-term care for elders and adults with disabilities who are unable to live on their own.

As the work around national standards for long-term care unfolds, Budget 2021 proposes to address a key issue for these workers to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. Care workers deserve more financial security, and better options for retirement savings to give them the certainty that after a life of hard work caring for others, they will be cared for, too.

The 2020 Fall Economic Statement announced that, to support personal support workers, homecare workers and essential workers involved in senior care, the government would work with labour and healthcare unions, among others, to seek solutions to improve retention, recruitment, and retirement savings options for low and modest-income workers, particularly those without existing workplace pension coverage.

To follow through on this commitment:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide funding of $27.6 million over three years for my65+, a Group Tax-Free Savings Account offered by the Service Employees International Union Healthcare. Gender-Based Analysis+

The funding will support incentives for worker participation. The Service Employees International Union Healthcare will work with other unions and employers across the country to make this portable savings tool available to other workers in the elder care sector. The government also remains open to engaging with other interested unions and employer sponsors who wish to come forward with other targeted, kick-start options to strengthen retirement security for those involved in senior care who do not currently have workplace retirement security coverage.  

Employee Ownership Trusts

Employee ownership trusts encourage employee ownership of a business, and facilitate the transition of privately owned businesses to employees. Both the United States and the United Kingdom support and encourage employee ownership though these types of arrangements.

• Budget 2021 announces that the government will engage with stakeholders to examine what barriers exist to the creation of employee ownership trusts in Canada, and how workers and owners of private businesses in Canada could benefit from the use of employee ownership trusts. Gender-Based Analysis+

Taking Action to Address Predatory Lending

Many lower and modest-income Canadians rely on high-interest short-term loans to make ends meet, such as paying for everyday living expenses, or for unanticipated emergencies. This leaves some Canadians living in a cycle of debt.

• To help fight predatory lending, the Government of Canada will launch a consultation on lowering the criminal rate of interest in the Criminal Code of Canada applicable to, among other things, installment loans offered by payday lenders. Gender-Based Analysis+

Chapter 3
New Opportunities for Canadians
millions of dollars

	2020- 2021	2021– 2022	2022- 2023	2023- 2024	2024- 2025	2025- 2026	Total
3.1. Action Plan for Women in the Economy	0	3,065	4,906	6,208	7,237	8,383	29,800
Establishing a Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care System	0	3,065	4,906	6,208	7,237	8,383	29,800
3.2. Opportunities for Canada’s Youth	0	1,553	2,890	160	175	182	4,959
Providing Relief from Student Debt	0	0	424	50	59	64	596
Less: Savings from Fewer claims of the Student Loan Interest Tax Credit	0	0	-12	-6	-1	-1	-20
Doubling the Canada Student Grants for Two Additional Years	0	1,263	1,872	0	0	0	3,135
Expanding Access to Supports for Students and Borrowers with Disabilities	0	0	77	116	117	119	429
Supporting Vulnerable Children and Youth During the Recovery	0	60	58	0	0	0	118
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	-10	-10	0	0	0	-20
Helping Youth and Students Build Job Skills and Connect with Employers	0	240	483	0	0	0	723
Less: Funds Previously Provisioned in the Fiscal Framework	0	0	-1	0	0	0	-1
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	0	-1	0	0	0	-1
3.3. Investing in Skills, Training, and Trades	0	535	974	916	26	27	2,479
Helping Employers Train and Recruit Workers	0	235	360	365	0	0	960
Creating New Opportunities for Skilled Tradespeople	0	36	217	217	0	0	470
Supporting Skills for Success	0	65	108	125	0	0	298
Ensuring Communities Recover Through Skills Training and Workforce Planning	0	5	15	35	0	0	55
Helping Workers Transition to New Jobs	0	25	100	125	0	0	250
Extending Federal Supports for Adults Who Return to School Full-Time	0	139	147	26	26	27	366
Teaching Kids to Code	0	30	27	23	0	0	80
3.4. Valuing Canada’s Workers	460	1,804	1,682	1,681	1,668	1,678	8,974
Enhancing the Canada Workers Benefit	460	1,795	1,670	1,665	1,665	1,675	8,930
Simplifying Wage Earner Protection Program Payments	0	4	4	4	4	4	19
Less: Costs to be Recovered	0	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-3
Support for Personal Support Workers	0	6	9	13	0	0	28
Chapter 3 – Sub-total	460	6,957	10,452	8,965	9,107	10,270	46,211
Less: Provisions for Anticipated Cabinet Decisions Not Yet Made Included in Previous Budgets or Updates	0	-3,083	-1,500	-1,500	-1,500	-1,500	-9,083
Chapter 3 – Net Fiscal Impact	460	3,874	8,952	7,465	7,607	8,770	37,128
Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding.

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Chapter 4:
Helping Canadian Businesses Grow and Succeed

Canadian businesses have been resilient through the pandemic, adapting and reinventing themselves in tough times. The government has provided a suite of measures that have helped, and are still helping, support Canadian businesses and Canadian workers through the crisis. As we look to turn the page from crisis to recovery, the government has a plan to restore business confidence, create jobs, and ensure that growth is being sustained through innovation and greater productivity for the long-term.

To do this requires an approach that takes specific aim at the businesses that have been hardest hit by the pandemic.

This has, in many ways, been a two speed recession. There have been businesses that have managed to adapt to the pandemic and to prosper. But others have been shut down outright by necessary public health restrictions or deeply limited in what they can do—and many of these highly affected businesses have been our small businesses. We need them to get back on their feet. They are the backbone of our economy, our main streets, and our communities.

Restoring permanent and long-term economic growth means that we must help our businesses to come back stronger than ever before. We must make sure we go where the puck is going—that we are investing strategically in emerging technologies, whether clean technologies, net-zero technologies, quantum technologies, or more. This is where many of the jobs of the future lie, and we will bring people from across Canada along. And we must do things better. We must support the growth of start-ups and scale-ups. We must make sure that entrepreneurs from disadvantaged communities are able to access the same financing and growth opportunities as every other entrepreneur and business owner in Canada.

Budget 2021 is a plan to make targeted investments in Canada’s businesses so they can hire and train Canada’s workers, who will then have more money to spend, spurring our recovery and growing an economy with more opportunities for everyone. It is a plan to help our businesses, especially small businesses, adopt new technologies. And it is a plan to invest in Canadian innovation, for long-term growth.

4.1 Helping Canadians Get Back to Work

COVID-19 has shaken the foundations of the Canadian economy and cost millions of Canadians their jobs. While the majority of job losses across most sectors have been recouped, many Canadians are still struggling to find steady work.

Getting the Canadian economy quickly back to its full potential, and stimulating robust growth, is critical to preventing long-term damage, and making sure that workers and communities are not left behind, as they were in previous recessions. Budget 2021 takes timely action to help businesses and other employers drive growth by hiring more workers and developing their talent to its fullest potential.

Helping Hard-hit Businesses Hire More Workers

For businesses that have been hit hardest by the pandemic, hiring the workers they need to grow is a cost they may worry about taking on. The government wants these businesses to be able to recover and grow by hiring more people so that workers are at the forefront of our recovery:

• Budget 2021 proposes to introduce the new Canada Recovery Hiring Program for eligible employers that continue to experience qualifying declines in revenues relative to before the pandemic. The proposed subsidy would offset a portion of the extra costs employers take on as they reopen, either by increasing wages or hours worked, or hiring more staff. This support would only be available for active employees and will be available from June 6 to November 20, 2021. Eligible employers would claim the higher of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy or the new proposed subsidy. The aim is to make it as easy as possible for businesses to hire new workers as the economy reopens. Gender-Based Analysis+

As the rates for both the wage subsidy and the hiring program will slowly ramp down over time, employers will have a strong incentive to begin hiring as soon as possible and maximize their benefit. Further details can be found in Annex 6.

The Canada Recovery Hiring Program will help Canadian-controlled private corporations, individuals, charities, and non-profits hire the workers they need so that the economy can fully recover, more quickly and without leaving people behind. It is estimated that this program will cost $595 million in 2021-22.

Dorothy and Stan run a bookstore whose storefront was shut down sporadically through the winter and spring due to public health restrictions. While their business survived, they had to lay off three of their 10 employees, whom they pay $600 per week. Their baseline payroll from March 14 to April 10 was $16,800 (i.e., 7 employees x $600 x 4 weeks).

As public health restrictions are lifted and the vaccination campaign continues, their business begins to recover. In May, their revenues are still down 50 per cent from their level before the pandemic, but are only down 20 per cent in June, and by July are close to their pre-pandemic level. As a result, they are able to hire back their three laid-off employees starting June 6, and are even able to add an additional employee starting July 4.

As a result of measures proposed in this Budget, Dorothy and Stan’s business will benefit from either the extended Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy or the new Canada Recovery Hiring Program:

• For June 6 to July 3, their payroll is $24,000. Their business would be eligible for a wage subsidy rate of 40 per cent (based on a 50-per-cent revenue decline), resulting in a wage subsidy of $9,600. Alternatively, the business would be eligible for a hiring subsidy rate of 50 per cent, which would be applied to the difference between its current payroll and its baseline payroll, resulting in a hiring incentive of $3,600. They are better off claiming the wage subsidy of $9,600 for this period.
• For July 4 to July 31, their payroll is $26,400. Their business would be eligible for a wage subsidy rate of 8.75 per cent (based on a 20-per-cent revenue decline), resulting in a wage subsidy of $2,310. Alternatively, the business would be eligible for a hiring subsidy rate of 50 per cent, which would be applied to the difference between its current payroll and its baseline payroll, resulting in a hiring incentive of $4,800. In this instance, they are better off claiming the hiring incentive of $4,800 for this period.

In total, Dorothy and Stan will be eligible for at least $14,400 in support from these two measures to help their business rebuild as the economy recovers.

Opportunities for Businesses and Young Workers Through Mitacs

Mitacs is a not-for-profit organization that connects young workers with innovative businesses for research and training opportunities. Mitacs focusses on supporting research-based innovation in industry and developing a talent stream of highly educated students and graduates through its internship programs. These students bring cutting-edge scientific and technical knowledge from universities and colleges that will strengthen the innovation capabilities of industry. This combination of innovation and skill development for the next generation of leaders will help drive growth now and ensure long-term competitiveness and prosperity.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $708 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, to Mitacs to create at least 85,000 work-integrated learning placements that provide on-the-job learning and provide businesses with support to develop talent and grow. Gender-Based Analysis+

4.2 Helping Small and Medium-sized Businesses Recover and Grow

Small and medium-sized businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic. Successful, innovative, and competitive small businesses are what drive a strong and growing middle class. Canada needs them to recover and grow. To do this, they need well trained employees, stable and accessible financing, and support to help them keep up with the digitization of our economy.

The government has a plan to help small businesses grow and expand to new markets locally, regionally, and beyond. These investments will encourage small businesses to scale up, hire more workers, and embrace new technologies that make them more productive and competitive.

Helping Small and Medium-sized Businesses Move into the Digital Age

The pandemic has hastened the economy’s digital transformation as companies, workers, and consumers conduct more and more business online. From 2002 to 2019, labour productivity in digitally intensive industries grew 3.5 times faster than in non-digitally intensive industries. And over the course of the pandemic, digitally intensive businesses actually grew, even though hours worked were down. Building a digital economy is critical to growing a more prosperous economy.

Canadian businesses need to adopt new technologies and digitize to meet customer needs and stay competitive. Embracing these changes also makes our businesses more efficient and more productive, and therefore more prosperous—and able to create more Canadian good middle class jobs.

Digital Main Street

In June 2020, the federal government in partnership with the Province of Ontario supported the province-wide expansion of Digital Main Street, which helps main street small businesses adopt e-commerce tools and move their business online. The program is built around an online learning platform, structured training programs, and a “Digital Service Squad,” which is a team of recent graduates who help small businesses grow and manage their businesses through the adoption of digital tools and technology.

To fuel the recovery, jobs, and growth, the government is launching the Canada Digital Adoption Program, which will create thousands of jobs for young Canadians and help as many as 160,000 small and medium-sized businesses adopt new digital technologies.

This program will provide businesses with two streams of support.

• To help main street businesses expand their customer bases online, they can access support to digitize and take advantage of e-commerce opportunities. Eligible businesses will receive microgrants to help offset the costs of going digital—and support to digital trainers from a network of up to 28,000 well trained young Canadians.
• Some businesses will require more comprehensive support to adopt new technology, and a second stream will be in place for “off-main street” businesses, such as small manufacturing and food processing operations. Support for these businesses will emphasize advisory expertise for technology planning and financing options needed to put these technologies to use.

Canada Digital Adoption Program

Tim owns a fine foods shop that has specialty imported and domestic products such as meats, cheeses, pasta, and coffee that has been operating at reduced capacity for the past year because of public health guidance. To get his products to his customers and to expand his customer base, Tim is ready to build an online store, but does not know how best to do so. Through the Canada Digital Adoption Program, Tim is able to connect with a trained, young person to help him understand the tools available to him, has access to support to develop an e-commerce strategy, and is eligible for a grant to help cover the costs associated with implementation.

Margot owns a t-shirt manufacturing company. She has been turning down orders that she cannot fill and wants to grow her business and hire more people but is unsure where to start. Through support from the Canada Digital Adoption Program, Margot has access to a local business advisor. The business advisor and Margot review her business plan and develop an investment plan. Working with her advisor, Margot determines that investing in an inventory management system and packaging automation would allow her to increase the number of t-shirts she can produce and ship each month. To help with the costs associated with this new technology, Margot is connected with the Business Development Bank of Canada to access a zero-interest loan. Through the program, Margot also has access to a talent pool of young Canadians to help ensure a smooth rollout of the new technology, and the digital enhancement of her business.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $1.4 billion over four years, starting in 2021-22, to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, to:
• Work with organizations across Canada to provide access to skills, training, and advisory services for all businesses accessing this program.
• Provide microgrants to smaller, main street businesses to support costs associated with technology adoption.
• Create training and work opportunities for as many as 28,000 young people to help small and medium-sized businesses across Canada adopt new technology.
• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $2.6 billion on a cash basis over four years, starting in 2021-22, to the Business Development Bank of Canada to help small and medium-sized businesses finance technology adoption. Gender-Based Analysis+



Helping Businesses Seize New Technological Opportunities

Small and medium-sized businesses sometimes require unique technological or process solutions for their businesses that cannot be achieved through the purchase and installation of available “off-the-shelf” solutions. These businesses can seize new opportunities by applying new research and technologies or developing them into useful new products and services. This real-world innovation and technical development helps businesses grow and become more competitive.

Much of this applied research is happening at Canada’s colleges, CEGEPs, and polytechnic institutes—institutions that have a strong presence in Canada’s small and rural communities.

To support applied research and development projects led by Canadian businesses in collaboration with colleges, CEGEPs, and polytechnics:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $46.9 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to support additional research partnerships between colleges, CEGEPs, polytechnics, and businesses through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s College and Community Innovation Program. Gender-Based Analysis+
• Budget 2021 proposes to invest $5.7 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to provide more businesses with access to the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program’s Interactive Visits, where firms can access equipment, facilities, and expertise at college-affiliated Technology Access Centres. Gender-Based Analysis+

The program design will ensure that businesses owned by underrepresented groups that may face barriers to entering Canada’s innovation pipeline have greater access to this support.

Supporting Business Investments

For Canada’s economic recovery to take root, businesses will need to invest in new technologies and move forward with capital projects. Building on the significant tax incentives introduced in the 2018 Fall Economic Statement, additional support is needed to further boost business investments that will create jobs today and in the future.

• Budget 2021 proposes to allow immediate expensing of up to $1.5 million of eligible investments by Canadian-controlled private corporations made on or after Budget Day and before 2024. Eligible investments will cover over 60 per cent of capital investments typically made by Canadian-controlled private corporations. Gender-Based Analysis+

This incentive targets short- and medium-term capital investments that can accelerate our recovery. This includes investments in a broad range of assets, including, helping to further incentivize businesses to transition to a more productive, knowledge-intensive economy and will include digital assets and intellectual property.

These larger deductions will help businesses—particularly small and medium-sized businesses—by making it more attractive to invest in assets that drive growth. Larger deductions will also free up capital that businesses can use to create more good middle class jobs.

It is estimated that this measure will reduce federal revenues by $2.2 billion over five years starting in 2021-22.

Enhancing the Canada Small Business Financing Program

Small businesses need access to financing in order to invest in people and innovation, and to have the space to operate and grow. But many small businesses are facing financing challenges, especially Canada’s innovative, entrepreneurial start-ups that are built on intellectual property and other intangibles that could be the next world-changing ideas.

To make sure small business and independent entrepreneurs can access the capital they need to recover, innovate, and grow in the long-term:

• Budget 2021 proposes to improve the Canada Small Business Financing Program through amendments to the Canada Small Business Financing Act and its regulations. These proposed amendments are projected to increase annual financing by $560 million, supporting approximately 2,900 additional small businesses. They include:
• Expanding loan class eligibility to include lending against intellectual property and start-up assets and expenses.
• Increasing the maximum loan amount from $350,000 to $500,000 and extending the loan coverage period from 10 to 15 years for equipment and leasehold improvements.
• Expanding borrower eligibility to include non-profit and charitable social enterprises.
• Introducing a new line of credit product to help with liquidity and cover short-term working capital needs.

Preparing Canada’s Aerospace Sector for Recovery

In 2019, aerospace contributed more than $28 billion to Canada’s GDP, directly and indirectly supporting 234,500 jobs. As one of the most research intensive manufacturing industries, aerospace is an important driver of Canada’s innovation economy. Highly dependent on purchases from airlines hit hard by the pandemic, the sector is facing reduced demand and a longer path to recovery, relative to other sectors of the economy. To help position Canada’s aerospace sector once restrictions on travel are lifted and the industry begins to recover:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $250 million over three years, on a cash basis, starting in 2021-22, for the regional development agencies to deliver an Aerospace Regional Recovery Initiative, which would support small and medium-sized firms in improving productivity, strengthening commercialization, and greening their operations and products. Gender-Based Analysis+

This is in addition to the $1.75 billion in the Strategic Innovation Fund, outlined in section 4.6, providing a combined support of $2 billion to help this innovative sector recover and grow out of the crisis.

4.3 Investing in Canada’s Entrepreneurs

Reinvigorating our entrepreneurial spirit is critical to the revitalization of our economy. The women and men who start and grow business, who create jobs and seize new opportunities, face enormous risks. There is enormous potential for their businesses to grow and create jobs in the recovery, but they need access to the right type of support, at the right time. In looking forward to recovery, it is important that it be inclusive, with all Canadians having an equal opportunity to succeed.

These measures are complemented by investments to support Indigenous entrepreneurs, outlined in Chapter 8.

Supporting Entrepreneurs, Including Equity Deserving Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs, especially those from equity deserving groups such as racialized Canadians, young people, LGBTQ2 people, and more, face barriers to starting and growing a business. This holds our economy back. To help simplify and streamline the government’s support programs, and to help equity deserving entrepreneurs access funding and capital, mentorship, financial planning services, and business training, the government will launch the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development Program. This will help all Canadians have an equal chance to succeed and contribute to economic recovery and growth:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide up to $101.4 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada for the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development Program. Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting Women Entrepreneurs

Canadian women entrepreneurs are important to Canada’s economic success, but women still face unique and systemic barriers to starting and growing a business, and they remain underrepresented in the economy. The pandemic has disproportionately impacted women and the government is committed to supporting Canadian women entrepreneurs.

• To provide affordable financing, increase data, and strengthen capacity within the entrepreneurship ecosystem, Budget 2021 proposes to provide up to $146.9 million over four years, starting in 2021-22, to strengthen the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy. Women entrepreneurs would have greater access to financing, mentorship, and training. Funding would also further support the Women Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Fund and the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub. Gender-Based Analysis+
• The government will work with financial institutions to develop a voluntary code to help support the inclusion of women and other underrepresented entrepreneurs as clients in the financial sector. Gender-Based Analysis+

Since 2018, the government's support to the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy is close to $5 billion, which includes $1.4 billion of lending through the Business Development Bank of Canada and $2 billion in facilitated trade through Export Development Canada. Moving forward, the Business Development Bank of Canada will seek to support 19,000 direct women-owned businesses in 2024, an increase of nearly 7,000.

Supporting Black Entrepreneurs

The pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated systemic barriers faced by Black entrepreneurs and owners of small and medium-sized businesses in Canada. Black business owners make invaluable contributions to communities across the country, and their success will contribute to Canada’s economic recovery. In September 2020, the Government of Canada, in partnership with financial institutions, announced an investment of up to $221 million—including up to $93 million from the government—to launch Canada’s first ever Black Entrepreneurship Program.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide up to an additional $51.7 million over four years, starting in 2021-22, to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and the regional development agencies for the Black Entrepreneurship Program. Gender-Based Analysis+

Leveraging Procurement Opportunities

Since the Government of Canada is one of the largest public buyers of goods and services in the country, procurement policy is a fundamental lever to achieve social and economic objectives. Purchasing domestically sourced or manufactured goods helps to strengthen our supply chains and secure domestic supply of goods. For example, government procurement investments at the start of the pandemic have spurred a made-in-Canada pipeline of personal protective equipment.

COVID-19 has had a pronounced impact on businesses owned by racialized Canadians. As of November 2020, businesses that are majority-owned by racialized Canadians were more likely than other businesses to see lower revenues compared to August 2019. Almost one-quarter of businesses that are majority-owned by racialized Canadians reported a decrease in revenue of 40 per cent or more, compared to one-fifth of all businesses in Canada.

To increase diversity in procurement, economically empower historically disadvantaged businesses, support small businesses and our supply chains, improve fairness in procurement opportunities for Canadian suppliers, create jobs, and contribute to a more inclusive economy:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide Public Services and Procurement Canada $87.4 million over five years starting in 2021-22, and $18.6 million ongoing. This funding will be used to modernize federal procurement and create opportunities for specific communities by diversifying the federal supplier base. Specifically, Public Services and Procurement Canada would:
• Implement a program focused on procuring from Black-owned businesses.
• Continue work to meet Canada’s target of 5 per cent of federal contracts being awarded to businesses managed and led by Indigenous peoples.
• Improve data capture, analytics, and reporting.
• Incorporate accessibility considerations into federal procurement, ensuring goods and services are accessible by design. Public Services and Procurement Canada will develop new tools, guidance, awareness, and training for federal departments.
• Budget 2021 also proposes to leverage supplier diversity opportunities through domestic procurement, such as running competitions open to businesses run by Canadians from equity deserving groups. This would help build a more inclusive economy and boost the competitiveness of these businesses, and all Canadian businesses. Gender-Based Analysis+
• In addition, in order to demonstrate to Canada’s trading partners the importance of balanced procurement opportunities, the government will pursue reciprocal procurement policies to ensure that goods and services are only procured from countries that grant Canadian businesses a similar level of market access. This will protect Canadian supply chains and ensure that Canada’s trading relationships are mutually beneficial economic relationships. Gender-Based Analysis+

Expanding the Industrial Research Assistance Program

Canada’s most innovative small and medium-sized businesses have an outsized impact on job creation and economic growth. But they need access to expertise and capital to grow. For several decades, the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program has provided expertise and capital and has helped business to scale up.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $500 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $100 million per year ongoing, to expand the Industrial Research Assistance Program to support up to 2,500 additional innovative small and medium-sized firms. Gender-Based Analysis+

Investing in Canadian Innovators Through a Renewed Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative

Canadian start-ups and businesses need access to financing to grow and create high-quality jobs. Venture capital financing takes educated risks on great ideas and smart people, giving young companies the opportunity to take their ideas to market, and grow. A healthy venture capital network allows businesses and entrepreneurs to scale up, create well-paying Canadian jobs, invest in innovation, and be globally competitive. The government has made $390 million available through the Venture Capital Action Plan and $450 million through the Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative. This federal investment has helped to provide a total of over $3 billion to grow Canadian companies and support thousands of middle class jobs.

To increase venture capital funding and support the continued growth of Canada’s innovative companies:
• Budget 2021 proposes to make available up to $450 million on a cash basis over five years, starting in 2021-22, for a renewed Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative that would increase venture capital available to entrepreneurs.
• $50 million of this amount would be dedicated to support venture capital investments in life science technologies.
• $50 million of this amount would support a new Inclusive Growth Stream to increase access to venture capital for underrepresented groups, such as women and racialized communities.

Boosting Canada’s Clean Technology Exports

Canadian firms are leading the way in the development of the clean technologies and climate solutions the world is seeking. Reaching beyond the Canadian market and scaling up internationally can help these firms to grow and meet their full potential, and help fight climate change. A pilot phase of the International Business Development Strategy for Clean Technology has proven successful at helping Canadian firms tap into export opportunities and the rapidly growing pools of global climate finance.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $21.3 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $4.3 million per year ongoing, to Global Affairs Canada for the continuation of the International Business Development Strategy for Clean Technology. Gender-Based Analysis+

More details on Budget 2021’s plan to invest in a green recovery and clean technologies can be found in Chapter 5.

4.4 Making it Easier to do Business in Canada

The government is investing to ensure the Canadian marketplace is efficient and fair. Renewed efforts to eliminate internal trade barriers will help support the economic recovery and lay the groundwork for long-term growth. As the economy becomes increasingly digital, new measures to enhance competition will protect consumers, lower prices, and spur innovation. Together, these measures will ensure Canada becomes an even better place to do business.

Removing Barriers to Internal Trade

For too long, trade barriers within our own country have held back Canadian businesses from reaching the full force of the Canadian market. Removing barriers to trade between provinces and territories will help build a more prosperous economy—creating jobs, fueling business expansion, expanding consumer choice of Canadian goods and services, and helping regional economies grow.

In Budget 2019, the federal government removed all federal restrictions on the interprovincial trade of liquor. The federal government remains steadfast in its efforts to remove internal trade barriers and continues to work closely with provincial, territorial, and industry partners to accelerate action on this front.

• Budget 2021 proposes to allocate $21 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to:
• Work with provincial and territorial partners to enhance the capacity of the Internal Trade Secretariat that supports the Canadian Free Trade Agreement in order to accelerate the reduction of trade barriers within Canada.
• Advance work with willing partners towards creating a repository of open and accessible pan-Canadian internal trade data to identify barriers, including licensing and professional certification requirements, so that we can work together to reduce them.
• Pursue internal trade objectives through new or renewed discretionary federal transfers to provinces and territories.

Lowering the Cost of Doing Business by Reducing Credit Card Transaction Fees

The pandemic has brought a rapid and significant increase in electronic payments and online transactions. Small and medium-sized businesses, which have been hard hit by COVID-19, incur fees for these transactions also known as interchange fees, which are amongst the highest in the world.

The government will engage with key stakeholders to work towards three objectives:

• Lower the average overall cost of interchange fees for merchants
• Ensure that small businesses benefit from pricing that is similar to large businesses
• Protect existing rewards points of consumers

Following consultations with stakeholders, detailed next steps will be outlined as part of the 2021 Fall Economic Statement, including legislative amendments to the Payment Card Networks Act that would provide authority to regulate interchange fees, if necessary.

A Fair and Competitive Marketplace

Empowering the Competition Bureau through increased capacity and new digital tools will help ensure a competitive marketplace that Canadians can trust.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $96 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $27.5 million ongoing, to enhance the Competition Bureau’s enforcement capacity and ensure it is equipped with the necessary digital tools for today’s economy. Gender-Based Analysis+

Maintaining Momentum on Regulatory Modernization

As Canada recovers from the pandemic, regulatory modernization will reduce unnecessary burdens on businesses in order to unleash innovation and accelerate economic growth.

Targeted Regulatory Reviews

Since 2018, the government has been conducting targeted regulatory reviews to identify and eliminate bottlenecks to economic growth. The first round of reviews led to the publication of Regulatory Roadmaps on the high-growth sectors of agri-food and aquaculture, health and bio-sciences, and transportation and infrastructure.

The second round of Regulatory Roadmaps on digitization and technology neutral regulations, international standards, and clean technology will be released in the coming weeks.

Later this year, the government will launch a third round of targeted regulatory reviews focused on how regulations can accelerate Canada’s recovery from the pandemic.

Regulatory Competitiveness

The Annual Regulatory Modernization Bill helps implement improvements and removes outdated and redundant requirements across multiple regulations. Informed by consultation with Canadians, the government intends to table in Parliament the second Annual Regulatory Modernization Bill.

The External Advisory Committee on Regulatory Competitiveness provides expert advice on a wide range of initiatives, ensuring that regulatory modernization is informed by affected businesses and Canadians, including targeted regulatory reviews and the Annual Regulatory Modernization Bill.

• To maintain momentum on strengthening Canada’s regulatory systems, Budget 2021 proposes to provide up to $6.1 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to renew the External Advisory Committee on Regulatory Competitiveness and to continue targeted regulatory reviews. Gender-Based Analysis+

4.5 Building Infrastructure to Boost Trade

Canada is a trading nation. The free and efficient flow of goods, services, and people, internationally and between provinces and territories, is critical to our prosperity. In order for Canadian businesses to grow and for the Canadian economy to be a part of the global recovery from the COVID-19 recession, trade with international partners needs to be open, efficient, and fair.

Budget 2021 proposes investments in physical and digital infrastructure and other measures to transform our borders and ensure that trade and travel continue to drive Canada’s economy.

Renewing our National Trade Corridors

To support a robust and quick recovery, Canada needs to address capacity constraints, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies in our own transportation infrastructure. This will support businesses across our supply chains and boost the potential for small and medium-sized businesses in all regions, including rural and remote communities.

The National Trade Corridors Fund is well-positioned to spur private-sector investment in Canada’s transportation system. To reduce barriers to trade, help our businesses grow, create jobs, and ensure our businesses are competitive in the recovery:

• Budget 2021 proposes to invest $1.9 billion over four years, starting in 2021-22, to recapitalize the National Trade Corridors Fund. This funding could attract approximately $2.7 billion from private and other public sector partners, resulting in total investments of $4.6 billion. This would spur investments in much-needed enhancements to our roads, rail, and shipping routes, build long-term resilience for the Canadian economy, and support internal trade. It would make Canada’s transportation system more fluid, supporting economic recovery and increasing prosperity across Canada. Alleviating bottlenecks and congestion will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.
• Of this total funding, 15 per cent would be dedicated to building and improving transportation networks in Canada’s North. Investments will bring growth and jobs to northern communities, and help more of our resources and goods get to markets in faster, cleaner, more cost-efficient ways. .

Investments Made Through the National Trade Corridors Fund

Since its inception in 2017, the National Trade Corridors Fund has invested in transportation infrastructure across Canada, for example:

• Western Canada: Projects in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, including new overpasses, upgrades to existing rail tracks, and expansion of port terminals, to improve the flow of passenger and freight traffic.
• Eastern Canada: Projects at the Port of Montreal, including construction of new roads and the development of an intelligent communications network, to increase the port’s capacity and optimize its rail network.
• Northern Canada: Improvement of the Mackenzie Valley Highway between Yellowknife and the Arctic Ocean to ensure reliable, year-round road access to isolated communities and support the economic development of the region’s mineral-rich resources.

Modernizing Travel and Trade at Our Borders

The safe and timely flow of people and goods across our borders is integral to Canada’s economic recovery. In the years ahead, a modern border should facilitate seamless and safe travel and trade, while protecting Canada from public health and security threats.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $656.1 million over five years, beginning in 2021-22, and $123.8 million ongoing, to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to modernize our borders. Funding will transform the border experience for travellers through touchless and automated interactions, enhance CBSA’s ability to detect contraband, and help protect the integrity of our border infrastructure. Funding will also support three Canadian preclearance pilots in the United Sates that would enable customs and immigration inspections to be completed before goods and travellers enter Canada. Gender-Based Analysis+

These initiatives will help preserve the security and integrity of Canada’s borders while expediting the flow of legitimate travel and trade.

Strengthening Canada’s Trade Remedy System

Maintaining a robust trade remedy system will ensure Canadian businesses can fully participate in the economic recovery and mitigate the impacts of unfairly traded imports.

• Budget 2021 announces the government’s intention to launch public consultations on measures to strengthen Canada’s trade remedy system and to improve access for workers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This may result in proposed amendments to the Special Import Measures Act and the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act. Gender-Based Analysis+

Administration of Trade Controls

The government has been taking steps to bolster its system of trade controls to ensure that Canada effectively manages the cross-border flow of sensitive goods. This includes strengthening Canada’s oversight of the movement of prohibited firearms and arms exports. It also includes additional monitoring and controls for imports of certain steel and aluminum products and supply-managed goods to better monitor trade flows.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $38.2 million over five years, starting in 2021–22, and $7.9 million per year ongoing, to Global Affairs Canada, as additional resourcing to support Canada’s trade controls regime. Gender-Based Analysis+

Better Supports for Exporters

Export Development Canada (EDC) helps Canadian companies of all sizes compete and succeed in the global marketplace. EDC recognizes its responsibility to uphold Canadian values and human rights when doing business.

• Budget 2021 announces the government’s intention to work with Export Development Canada to enhance supports to small and medium-sized exporters and to strengthen human rights considerations in export supports. The government may propose amendments to the Export Development Act. Gender-Based Analysis+

4.6 Investing in World-leading Research and Innovation

A plan for a long-term recovery must look to challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the years and decades to come. It must be led by a growth strategy that builds on the unique competitive advantages of the Canadian economy, and make sure that Canada is well-positioned to meet the demands of the next century. This work begins with innovation.

To drive growth and create good, well-paying jobs, entrepreneurs and businesses need to be able to translate Canada’s world-class leadership in research into innovative products and services for Canadians, and for the world.

These investments will help cement Canada’s position as a world leader in research and innovation, building a global brand that will attract talent and capital for years to come.

Supporting Innovation and Industrial Transformation

Since its launch in 2017, the Strategic Innovation Fund has been helping businesses invest, grow, and innovate in Canada. Through its efforts to help businesses make the investments they need to succeed, the fund is well-placed to support growth and the creation of good jobs across the Canadian economy—both now and in the future.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide the Strategic Innovation Fund with an incremental $7.2 billion over seven years on a cash basis, starting in 2021-22, and $511.4 million ongoing. This funding will be directed as follows:
• $2.2 billion over seven years, and $511.4 million ongoing to support innovative projects across the economy—including in the life sciences, automotive, aerospace, and agriculture sectors.
• $5 billion over seven years to increase funding for the Strategic Innovation Fund’s Net Zero Accelerator, as detailed in Chapter 5. Through the Net Zero Accelerator the fund would scale up its support for projects that will help decarbonize heavy industry, support clean technologies and help meaningfully accelerate domestic greenhouse gas emissions reductions by 2030.

The funding proposed in Budget 2021 will build on the Strategic Innovation Fund’s existing resources, including the $3 billion over five years announced in December 2020 for the Net Zero Accelerator. With this additional support, the Strategic Innovation Fund will target investments in important areas of future growth over the coming years to advance multiple strategic objectives for the Canadian economy:

• $1.75 billion in support over seven years would be targeted toward aerospace in recognition of the longer-lasting impacts to this sector following COVID-19. This is in addition to the $250 million Aerospace Regional Recovery Initiative, outlined in section 4.2, providing a combined support of $2 billion to help this innovative sector recover and grow out of the crisis.
• $1 billion of support over seven years would be targeted toward growing Canada’s life sciences and bio-manufacturing sector, restoring capabilities that have been lost and supporting the innovative Canadian firms and jobs in this sector. This is an important component of Canada's plan to build domestic resilience and improve long-term pandemic preparedness proposed in Chapter 1, providing a combined $2.2 billion over seven years.
• $8 billion over seven years for the Net Zero Accelerator to support projects that will help reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions by expediting decarbonization projects, scaling-up clean technology, and accelerating Canada’s industrial transformation. More details are in Chapter 5.

Strategic Innovation Fund Support

• Invest $8 billion through the Net Zero Accelerator
• Target $1.75 billion to the aerospace sector
• Target $1 billion to the bio-manufacturing and life sciences sector
• Leverage all other resources to target strategic investments in innovative and dynamic projects, including in traditional areas of Canadian strength.

Strategic Objective

• Help achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and support economic transformation
• Support sector recovery and sustainable growth
• Build domestic resilience and improve long-term pandemic preparedness
• Promote growth and the creation of good jobs across the Canadian economy

It is important that the Strategic Innovation Fund has the right tools to support businesses across Canada. To this end, the government will explore potential opportunities to add new investment structures to the Strategic Innovation Fund’s toolkit.

Renewing the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy

Artificial intelligence is one of the greatest technological transformations of our age. Canada has communities of research, homegrown talent, and a diverse ecosystem of start-ups and scale-ups. But these Canadian innovators need investment in order to ensure our economy takes advantage of the enormous growth opportunities ahead in this sector. By leveraging our position of strength, we can also ensure that Canadian values are embedded across widely used, global platforms.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide up to $443.8 million over ten years, starting in 2021-22, in support of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, including:
• $185 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, to support the commercialization of artificial intelligence innovations and research in Canada.
• $162.2 million over ten years, starting in 2021-22, to help retain and attract top academic talent across Canada—including in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec. This programming will be delivered by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
• $48 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, for the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research to renew and enhance its research, training, and knowledge mobilization programs.
• $40 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, to provide dedicated computing capacity for researchers at the national artificial intelligence institutes in Edmonton, Toronto, and Montréal.
• $8.6 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, to advance the development and adoption of standards related to artificial intelligence.

Launching a National Quantum Strategy

Quantum technology is at the very leading edge of science and innovation today, with enormous potential for commercialization. This emerging field will transform how we develop and design everything from life-saving drugs to next generation batteries, and Canadian scientists and entrepreneurs are well-positioned to take advantage of these opportunities. But they need investments to be competitive in this fast growing global market.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $360 million over seven years, starting in 2021-22, to launch a National Quantum Strategy. The strategy will amplify Canada’s significant strength in quantum research; grow our quantum-ready technologies, companies, and talent; and solidify Canada’s global leadership in this area. This funding will also establish a secretariat at the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development to coordinate this work. Gender-Based Analysis+

The government will provide further details on the rollout of the strategy in the coming months.

Revitalizing the Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre

Canada is a world leader in photonics, the technology of generating and harnessing the power of light. This is the science behind fibre optics, advanced semi-conductors, and other cutting-edge technologies, and there is a strong history of Canadian companies bringing this expertise to the world. The National Research Council’s Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre supplies photonics research, testing, prototyping, and pilot-scale manufacturing services to academics and large, small and medium-sized photonics businesses in Canada. But its aging facility puts this critical research and development at risk.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $90 million over five years on a cash basis, starting in 2021-22, to the National Research Council to retool and modernize the Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre. This would allow the centre to continue helping Canadian researchers and companies grow and support highly skilled jobs. Gender-Based Analysis+

Launching a Pan-Canadian Genomics Strategy

Genomics research is developing cutting-edge therapeutics and is helping Canada track and fight COVID-19. Canada was an early mover in advancing genomics science and is now a global leader in the field. A national approach to support genomics research can lead to breakthroughs that have real world applications. There is an opportunity to improve Canadians’ health and well-being while also creating good jobs and economic growth. Leveraging and commercializing this advantage will give Canadian companies, researchers, and workers a competitive edge in this growing field.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $400 million over six years, starting in 2021-22, in support of a Pan-Canadian Genomics Strategy. This funding would provide $136.7 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, for mission-driven programming delivered by Genome Canada to kick-start the new Strategy and complement the government’s existing genomics research and innovation programming. Gender-Based Analysis+

Further investments to grow Canada’s strengths in genomics under the Strategy will be announced in the future.

Conducting Clinical Trials

Canadian scientists are among the best in the world at conducting high-quality clinical trials. Clinical trials lead to the development of new scientifically proven treatments and cures, and improved health outcomes for Canadians. They also create good jobs in the health research sector, including the pharmaceutical sector, and support the creation of new companies, drugs, medical devices, and other health products.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $250 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to implement a new Clinical Trials Fund. Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting the Innovation Superclusters Initiative

Since it was launched in 2017, the Innovation Superclusters Initiative has helped Canada build successful innovation ecosystems in important areas of the economy. Drawing on the strength and breadth of their networks, the superclusters were able to quickly pivot their operations and played an important role in Canada’s COVID-19 response. For example, the Digital Technology Supercluster allocated resources to projects that used digital technologies and artificial intelligence to help facilitate faster, more accurate diagnosis, treatment, and care of COVID-19 patients.

To help ensure those superclusters that made emergency investments to support Canada’s COVID-19 response and others can continue supporting innovative Canadian projects:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $60 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to the Innovation Superclusters Initiative. Gender-Based Analysis+

Promoting Canadian Intellectual Property

As the most highly educated country in the OECD, Canada is full of innovative and entrepreneurial people with great ideas. Those ideas are valuable intellectual property that are the seeds of huge growth opportunities. Building on the National Intellectual Property Strategy announced in Budget 2018, the government proposes to further support Canadian innovators, start-ups, and technology-intensive businesses. Budget 2021 proposes:

• $90 million, over two years, starting in 2022-23, to create ElevateIP, a program to help accelerators and incubators provide start-ups with access to expert intellectual property services. Gender-Based Analysis+
• $75 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, for the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program to provide high-growth client firms with access to expert intellectual property services. Gender-Based Analysis+

These direct investments would be complemented by a Strategic Intellectual Property Program Review that will be launched. It is intended as a broad assessment of intellectual property provisions in Canada’s innovation and science programming, from basic research to near-commercial projects. This work will make sure Canada and Canadians fully benefit from innovations and intellectual property.

Capitalizing on Space-based Earth Observation

Earth observation satellites support critical services that Canadians rely on. They provide reliable weather forecasts, support military and transport logistics, help us monitor and fight climate change, and support innovation across sectors, including energy and agriculture. They also create high-quality jobs in Canada and the government will continue to explore opportunities to support Canadian capacity, innovation, and jobs in this sector. To maintain Canada’s capacity to collect and use important data from these satellites, Budget 2021 proposes to provide:

• $80.2 million over eleven years, starting in 2021-22, with $14.9 million in remaining amortization and $6.2 million per year ongoing, to Natural Resources Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada to replace and expand critical but aging ground-based infrastructure to receive satellite data. Gender-Based Analysis+
• $9.9 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to the Canadian Space Agency to plan for the next generation of Earth observation satellites. Gender-Based Analysis+

Science and Technology Collaboration with Israeli Firms

Collaborating with global innovation leaders allows Canadian companies to leverage expertise to create new products and services, support good jobs, and reach new export markets.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide additional funding of $10 million over five years, starting in 2021-2022, and $2 million per year ongoing, to expand opportunities for Canadian SMEs to engage in research and development partnerships with Israeli SMEs as part of the Canadian International Innovation Program. This will be sourced from existing Global Affairs Canada resources. The government also intends to implement an enhanced delivery model for this program, including possible legislation. Gender-Based Analysis+

4.7 Supporting a Digital Economy

More and more of our lives are happening online—from socializing, to our jobs, to commerce. Recognizing the fundamental shifts underway in our society, the government introduced a new Digital Charter in 2020 that seeks to better protect the privacy, security, and personal data of Canadians, building trust and confidence in the digital economy.

To make sure that Canadian businesses can keep pace with this digital transformation and that they are part of this growth, Budget 2021 includes measures to ensure businesses and workers in every region of the country have access to fast, reliable internet. It also has measures to make sure that the digital economy is fair and well reported on.

A digital economy that serves and protects Canadians and Canadian businesses is vital for long-term growth.

Accelerating Broadband for Everyone

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted much of our lives online and transformed how we live, work, learn, and do business. This makes it more important than ever that Canadians, including Canadian small businesses in every corner of this country, have access to fast and reliable high-speed internet. Canadians and Canadian businesses in many rural and remote communities who still do not have access to high-speed internet face a barrier to equal participation in the economy. Building on the $6.2 billion the federal government and federal agencies have made available for universal broadband since 2015:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide an additional $1 billion over six years, starting in 2021-22, to the Universal Broadband Fund to support a more rapid rollout of broadband projects in collaboration with provinces and territories and other partners. This would mean thousands more Canadians and small businesses will have faster, more reliable internet connections. Gender-Based Analysis+

In total, including proposed Budget 2021 funding, $2.75 billion will be made available through the Universal Broadband Fund to support Canadians in rural and remote communities. Recently, the Universal Broadband Fund provided funding to ensure Quebec could launch Operation High Speed, connecting nearly 150,000 Quebecers to high-speed internet. These continuing investments will help Canada accelerate work to reach its goal of 98 per cent of the country having high-speed broadband by 2026 and 100 per cent by 2030.

Establishing a New Data Commissioner

Digital and data-driven technologies open up new markets for products and services that allow innovative Canadians to create new business opportunities—and high-value jobs. But as the digital and data economy grows, Canadians must be able to trust that their data are protected and being used responsibly.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $17.6 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $3.4 million per year ongoing, to create a Data Commissioner. The Data Commissioner would inform government and business approaches to data-driven issues to help protect people’s personal data and to encourage innovation in the digital marketplace. Gender-Based Analysis+
• Budget 2021 also proposes to provide $8.4 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $2.3 million ongoing, to the Standards Council of Canada to continue its work to advance industry-wide data governance standards. Gender-Based Analysis+

Enhancing Business Condition Data

The government introduced the Canadian Survey of Business Conditions in April 2020 to provide timely measurement of business and economic indicators and better understand changing business conditions. To further this work with partners and enhance the availability of real-time business indicator data:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide up to $5 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to Statistics Canada to work with partners to enhance the availability of business condition data, better ensuring that the government’s support measures are responsive to the needs of Canadian businesses and entrepreneurs.   Gender-Based Analysis+

Chapter 4
Helping Canadian Businesses Grow and Succeed
millions of dollars

	2020- 2021	2021- 2022	2022- 2023	2023- 2024	2024- 2025	2025- 2026	Total
4.1. Helping Canadians Get Back to Work	0	685	170	160	144	144	1,303
Helping Hard-hit Businesses Hire More Workers	0	595	0	0	0	0	595
Opportunities for Businesses and Young Workers Through Mitacs	0	90	170	160	144	144	708
4.2. Helping SMEs Recover and Grow	0	1,088	1,572	1,477	285	-237	4,184
Helping Small and Medium-sized Businesses Move into the Digital Age	0	424	424	408	408	0	1,663
Helping Businesses Seize New Technological Opportunities	0	26	26	0	0	0	53
Supporting Business Investments	0	615	1,055	985	-145	-265	2,245
Enhancing the Canada Small Business Financing Program	0	1	12	33	49	58	153
Less:Revenues	0	-16	-20	-24	-27	-31	-117
Preparing Canada’s Aerospace Sector for Recovery	0	38	75	75	0	0	188
4.3. Investing In Canada’s Entrepreneurs	0	214	183	203	191	131	921
Supporting Entrepreneurs, Including Equity Deserving Entrepreneurs	0	20	20	20	20	20	101
Supporting Women Entrepreneurs	0	63	21	36	27	0	147
Supporting Black Entrepreneurs	0	12	12	13	14	0	52
Leveraging Procurement Opportunities	0	13	18	19	18	18	87
Expanding the Industrial Research Assistance Program	0	100	100	100	100	100	500
Investing in Canadian Innovators Through a Renewed Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative	0	1	6	11	7	-12	12
Boosting Canada’s Clean Technology Exports	0	4	4	4	4	4	21
4.4. Making it Easier to do Business in Canada	0	12	25	31	28	28	123
Removing Barriers to Internal Trade	0	5	8	8	0	0	21
A Fair and Competitive Marketplace	0	4	14	23	28	28	96
Maintaining Momentum on Regulatory Modernizations	0	3	3	0	0	0	6
4.5. Building Infrastructure to Boost Trade	0	478	631	801	586	84	2,579
Renewing our National Trade Corridors	0	300	500	600	500	0	1,900
Modernizing Travel and Trade at Our Borders	0	174	126	196	81	79	656
Administration of Trade Controls	0	7	8	8	8	8	38
Less: Funds Previously Provisioned in the Fiscal Framework	0	-3	-3	-3	-3	-3	-15
4.6. Investing in World-leading Research and Innovation	0	923	1,515	2,155	1,006	526	6,125
Supporting Innovation and Industrial Transformation	0	705	1,099	1,704	768	295	4,571
Renewing the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy	0	45	72	80	84	88	368
Launching a National Quantum Strategy	0	31	49	59	61	54	254
Revitalizing the Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre	0	2	4	5	6	6	23
Launching a Pan-Canadian Genomics Strategy	0	50	86	105	81	75	398
Conducting Clinical Trials	0	34	97	119	0	0	250
Supporting the Innovation Superclusters Initiative	0	36	24	0	0	0	60
Promoting Canadian Intellectual Property	0	15	75	75	0	0	165
Capitalizing on Space-based Earth Observation	0	5	10	6	6	9	36
4.7. Supporting a Digital Economy	0	280	352	135	131	131	1,029
Accelerating Broadband for Everyone	0	272	344	129	126	126	998
Establishing a New Data Commissioner	0	5	5	5	5	5	26
Enhancing Business Condition Data	0	2	2	0	0	0	5
Additional Investments – Helping Canadian Businesses Grow and Succeed	-5	13	17	17	13	13	69
Revitalizing the Canadian Commercial Corporation	0	0	13	13	13	13	52
Emergency Funding (Including Reprofile)	-5	13	0	0	0	0	9
Funding proposed for the Canadian Commercial Corporation would allow it to administer the Canada-US Defence Production Sharing Agreement and help Canadian companies win US defence contracts, grow, and support jobs here at home. $5 million that was allocated for CCC in 2020-21 is being reallocated to 2021-22.
Continuing Motor Vehicle Safety Oversight	0	0	4	4	0	0	8
Funding proposed for Transport Canada to continue core motor vehicle safety oversight activities, which include monitoring and enforcing compliance with the Motor Vehicle Safety Act and its regulations, and developing new regulations to modernize safety oversight.
Chapter 4 - Net Fiscal Impact	-5	3,691	4,465	4,978	2,384	819	16,332
Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding

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Chapter 5:
A Healthy Environment for a Healthy Economy

Climate change is real.

Wildfires, floods, droughts, and powerful storms are becoming more frequent, more costly, and more dangerous.

COVID-19 has shown us how Canadians have what it takes to come together, to mobilize, and to take action in the face of a crisis. The climate crisis is just as great a challenge.

Our human impact on the environment will have lasting consequences if we fail to come together to take bold and ambitious climate action. Action at home, action on our commute to work, and action in industry and the financial sector.

Around the world, countries and investors realize that climate action is the key to building strong, resilient economies. Fighting climate change, including reaching net-zero, will be a cornerstone of this government’s plan to rebuild the economy, create middle class jobs, and ensure Canadian industry stays competitive on the world stage.

Climate change is the challenge of our times. And it is also one of our greatest opportunities. Canada’s well-educated workforce, energy sector know-how, and trade relationships position us to be a leader in the clean economy of the future. The global recovery from the COVID-19 recession will include seismic investments in a green recovery, and Canada’s plan for strategic, targeted investments will take advantage of this pivot and create opportunities for Canadians in every region of the country.

Climate action creates new opportunities for engineers, scientists, farmers, construction workers, tradespeople, resource workers, energy workers, researchers, and more.

A sustainable, long-term recovery demands that we look far into the horizon and consider the legacy we will leave behind. By investing in climate action now, we can create good middle class jobs today, and create a cleaner and safer future for our children and grandchildren.

Since 2015, we have invested roughly $60 billion toward climate action and clean growth. In 2020, we announced an additional investment of $15 billion for Canada’s strengthened climate plan, along with nearly $15 billion for public transit in February 2021. Canada also has a strong and rising price on carbon, accelerating further action on climate change and transforming our economy.

Building on recent investments, Budget 2021 proposes to provide $17.6 billion towards a green recovery to create jobs, build a clean economy, and fight and protect against climate change.

"When well designed and implemented, green stimulus measures can generate income, create jobs, improve well-being for all and build resilience."

5.1 Growing Our Net-zero Economy

Across the world, advanced economies are making investments in a green recovery. Governments and businesses are making bold investments in clean growth.

Canadians and Canadian businesses stand poised to seize the new opportunities for growth and jobs arising as the world builds a greener global economy. Making sure Canada is part of this shift is critical to ensuring good jobs for generations of Canadians.

In the global race for clean solutions, Canada will make bold new investments so that businesses and workers can compete and win.

Accelerating Canada’s Net-zero Transformation Through Innovation

The Net Zero Accelerator, launched in the government’s strengthened climate plan last December, will help build and secure Canada’s clean industrial advantage. By investing in decarbonizing large emitters, transforming key sectors— from steel and aluminium to cement—and accelerating the adoption of clean technology across the economy – for example, the auto and aerospace sectors – the Net Zero Accelerator will spur Canada’s shift to innovative net-zero technologies and attract the large-scale investments needed to meet our goal of net-zero by 2050. It will also help Canadian firms grow and create the jobs of our low-carbon future.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $5 billion over seven years (cash basis), starting in 2021-22, to the Net Zero Accelerator. Building on the support for the Net Zero Accelerator announced in the strengthened climate plan, this funding would allow the government to provide up to $8 billion of support for projects that will help reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions across the Canadian economy. Gender-Based Analysis+

The Net Zero Accelerator works to cut pollution, spur clean technology innovations, attract major investments, create good middle class jobs, and foster development of key supply chains to ensure Canadian industries and workers can use their low-carbon advantage to compete and win. This is an important component of the total investment in the Strategic Innovation Fund proposed in Chapter 4.

Propelling Clean Tech Projects

While the Canadian clean technology sector is a global leader in clean tech innovation (11 companies were named to the Cleantech Group’s 2021 Global Cleantech 100 list, more than any other country after the United States), it lags in commercial scale-up, export and industry adoption. Canadian companies frequently report facing challenges in scaling up in Canada’s small domestic market and accessing sufficient patient growth capital. Transformative clean technology projects, particularly large ones, often require investment at a scale and time horizon outside of the scope of traditional project financing. To support large-scale clean technology projects:

• Budget 2021 proposes to make up to $1 billion available on a cash basis, over five years, starting in 2021-22, to help draw in private sector investment for these projects. Gender-Based Analysis+

These resources would fuel the growth of innovative Canadian companies, create jobs for highly skilled workers, and bring important environmental and climate solutions to the world.

Growing Zero-emission Technology Manufacturing

As more countries commit to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, the demand for zero-emission technology will only grow. With a highly educated and motivated workforce, Canada is well positioned to take advantage of this opportunity. Strengthening our manufacturing sector and creating good, well-paying jobs is key to growing a resilient, competitive middle class.

To create jobs and support the growth of clean technology manufacturing in Canada:

• Budget 2021 proposes to reduce—by 50 per cent—the general corporate and small business income tax rates for businesses that manufacture zero-emission technologies. The reductions would go into effect on January 1, 2022, and would be gradually phased out starting January 1, 2029 and eliminated by January 1, 2032. The Department of Finance Canada will regularly review new technologies that might be eligible, in consultation with Environment and Climate Change Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, and other key stakeholders across government and industry. Gender-Based Analysis+

These proposed tax rate reductions will enhance Canada's competitiveness in attracting investment in zero-emission technology manufacturing, while also supporting existing businesses in the sector. This will advance Canada’s economic recovery and help create well-paying jobs for Canadians. It is estimated that this measure will reduce federal revenues by $45 million over five years, starting in 2021-22.

In addition, the government will undertake an analysis to ensure that Canada keeps pace with the U.S. and other jurisdictions in providing the appropriate tax structures and incentives to encourage clean economy businesses to invest, grow, and deploy solutions here in Canada.

Zero-Emission Technologies in Canada

Examples of zero-emission technology manufacturing in Canada:

• Manufacturing of wind turbines, solar panels, and equipment used in hydroelectric facilities.
• Manufacturing of geothermal energy systems.
• Manufacturing of electric cars, busses, trucks, and other vehicles.
• Manufacturing of batteries and fuel cells for electric vehicles.
• Production of biofuels from waste materials.
• Production of green hydrogen.
• Manufacturing of electric vehicle charging systems.
• Manufacturing of certain energy storage equipment.

Accelerating Investment in Clean Energy Technologies

In 2018, Canada introduced tax incentives to encourage businesses to invest in clean energy generation and energy efficiency equipment. In particular, this included a time-limited measure allowing businesses to immediately write off the full cost of investments in certain clean energy technologies. To support clean tech jobs, help Canadian companies adopt more clean technologies, and fight climate change:

• Budget 2021 proposes to expand the list of eligible equipment to include equipment used in pumped hydroelectric energy storage, renewable fuel production, hydrogen production by electrolysis of water, and hydrogen refueling. Certain existing restrictions related to investments in water-current, wave and tidal energy, active solar heating, and geothermal energy technologies would also be removed. Gender-Based Analysis+

To ensure this tax incentive remains consistent with the government’s environmental objectives:

• Budget 2021 proposes to update the eligibility criteria such that certain fossil-fuelled and low efficiency waste-fuelled electrical generation equipment will no longer be eligible after 2024. Gender-Based Analysis+

Reforming eligibility for this tax incentive will help reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. It is estimated that these measures will reduce federal revenues by $142 million over five years starting in 2021-22.

Enhancing Canada’s Supply of Critical Minerals

The electrification of vehicles and use of solar panels is expected to surge in the coming decade. Canada has rich reserves of the critical minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries and solar panels, along with other low-carbon technologies needed to reach net-zero. The resources needed for these technologies create good jobs in regions across the country.

Canada and the U.S. recently agreed to strengthen the Canada-U.S. Joint Action Plan on Critical Minerals Collaboration to target a net-zero industrial transformation, batteries for zero-emissions vehicles, and renewable energy storage. Investing in these resources is essential for our energy security and will ensure Canada is a vital producer in the supply chains of the future.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $9.6 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to create a Critical Battery Minerals Centre of Excellence at Natural Resources Canada. The centre would coordinate federal policy and programs on critical minerals, and work with provincial, territorial, and other partners. The centre would also help implement the Canada-U.S. Joint Action Plan. Gender-Based Analysis+
• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $36.8 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, with $10.9 million in remaining amortization, to Natural Resources Canada, for federal research and development to advance critical battery mineral processing and refining expertise. Gender-Based Analysis+

Charging and Fueling Zero-emission Vehicles

Since 2015, there has been a rapid increase in the number of Canadians who own zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). Since 2016, the government has invested $376.4 million and has initiated work to build nearly 6,000 charging and refueling stations with partners all across the country. While charging ports are now available in more and more places—from shopping centres, to office buildings, to curbside parking—the measurement and pricing of the energy being sold is not always clear to drivers. Just as we know that what is coming out of the pump is a litre of gas, drivers of ZEVs need to have the same level of trust and certainty when they charge up an electric vehicle, or fill up their tank with a next-generation clean fuel, such as hydrogen. To provide consistency and transparency to drivers and help Canadians reduce carbon emissions:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $56.1 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, with $16.3 million in remaining amortization and $13 million per year ongoing, to Measurement Canada to develop and implement, in coordination with international partners such as the United States, a set of codes and standards for retail ZEV charging and fueling stations. This would include accreditation and inspection frameworks needed to ensure the standards are adhered to at Canada’s vast network of charging and refueling stations. Gender-Based Analysis+

This measure would provide regulatory certainty to providers of charging services and facilitate the development of the charging network. It would also give more Canadians confidence to purchase and drive ZEVs.

Federal Clean Electricity Fund

Investing in electricity generated from renewable sources can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stimulate growth in clean power infrastructure. The Government of Canada has set a goal of ensuring 100 per cent of electricity generation for all federal buildings is from clean sources by 2022, where available. Purchasing renewable electricity will stimulate investments in new clean technology and support job creation and Indigenous participation.

• To support the Government of Canada’s commitment to power federal buildings with 100 per cent clean electricity by 2022, Budget 2021 proposes to provide $14.9 million over 4 years, starting in 2022-23, with $77.9 million in future years, to Public Services and Procurement Canada for a Federal Clean Electricity Fund to purchase renewable energy certificates for all federal government buildings. Gender-Based Analysis+

Reducing Transportation and Landfill Emissions

Taken together, the transportation and waste sectors account for nearly 30 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. Light- and heavy-duty vehicles contribute the largest share of transportation emissions, and emissions from gas-powered household equipment are on the rise. In addition, the Canadian landfills release large amounts of methane—a potent greenhouse gas.

To create a healthier environment and support the transition to cleaner transportation and waste management:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $104.6 million over five years, starting in 2021–22, with $2.8 million in remaining amortization, to Environment and Climate Change Canada to strengthen greenhouse gas emissions regulations for light- and heavy-duty vehicles and off-road residential equipment, establish national methane regulations for large landfills, and undertake additional actions to reduce and better use waste at these sites. Gender-Based Analysis+

Investing in the Forest-based Bio-economy

The forest industry plays a vital role in many of Canada’s rural communities, and the industry will have an important place in greening our economy. Wood-based innovations are helping drive developments in Canada’s low-carbon economy. They can be used in biofuels, bioplastics, building materials, and other products our economy needs, and replace less sustainable products. Developing and marketing these new biomaterials will help protect good jobs in hundreds of Canadian communities. To support the growth of the forest-based bio-economy:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $54.8 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to Natural Resources Canada, to enhance the capacity of the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program, including working with municipalities and community organizations ready for new forest-based economic opportunities. Gender-Based Analysis+

First Federal Green Bond

Capital is increasingly in search of green projects that support innovative businesses and good jobs. This is a rapidly growing new market and the presence of AAA borrowers will help create a more mature market for investors who are looking for a green portfolio, but also need to manage their investment risk. To make sure that Canada is competing for these opportunities, now and in the future:

• The government will publish a green bond framework in the coming months in advance of issuing its inaugural federal green bond in 2021-22, with an issuance target of $5 billion, subject to market conditions. This would be the first of many green bond issuances. The framework will provide details on how, through green bonds, investors will have opportunities to finance Canada’s work to fight climate change and protect the environment. Possible projects these green bonds could fund include green infrastructure, clean tech innovations, nature conservation, and other efforts to address climate change and protect our environment. Gender-Based Analysis+

The Department of Finance Canada will co-lead the development of Canada’s green bond framework with Environment and Climate Change Canada, in co-development with other departments including Natural Resources Canada; Infrastructure Canada; Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; Transport Canada; Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; Public Safety Canada; as well as related Crown corporations.

5.2 Investing in Our Clean Industry Future

Generations of Canadians have worked hard to build a strong energy sector that supports hundreds of thousands of workers and families across the country, and brings power to the world—a legacy of pride and accomplishment. The development of Canada’s energy sector has made significant contributions to clean technologies and materials, across industry, and to our country’s prosperity and high quality of life. These technologies and materials have the potential to transform industry, across sectors.

Nearly 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada are generated by a relatively small number of large industrial facilities across Canada. Decarbonizing these facilities is an economic and environmental opportunity that, if realized, will position Canada as a leader in providing cleaner energy, and clean technology solutions, around the world.



Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) and low-carbon fuels represent two pathways to reduce these industrial emissions. Investing in these technologies today is a significant step towards achieving Canada’s climate targets—and a greener, more resilient future for all Canadians.

Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage

Fighting climate change, and reaching net-zero, requires Canadians and Canadian industry to reduce the harmful greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in as many ways as possible. CCUS is an important tool for reducing emissions in high emitting sectors. It uses advanced technologies to capture carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion, industrial processes, or directly from the air. The captured carbon can then be stored deep underground, or used to create new and innovative products. CCUS is the only currently available technology with the potential to generate negative emissions.

Canada currently captures 4 megatonnes of carbon every year, but we have the technical and geological capacity to capture and store much more. We have the right building blocks in place, including infrastructure such as the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line, and innovative companies like CarbonCure in Nova Scotia, which developed a technology to inject captured carbon into concrete, making it stronger and less polluting. Alberta and Saskatchewan have the greatest near-term potential to become global leaders in CCUS by creating new ‘hubs’ where carbon from high-emitting facilities can be efficiently captured, transported, stored, or used.

Tax Incentive for Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage

Canadian innovators and engineers have developed some of the leading global technologies for CCUS technologies that are in demand as more countries take action to fight climate change. The government intends to take significant action to support and accelerate the adoption of these technologies. By providing incentives to adopt CCUS technologies, the proposed measure will be an important element in Canada’s plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. This important new element of Canada’s tax system is also intended to accelerate the growth of new businesses and jobs related to carbon capture.

• Budget 2021 proposes to introduce an investment tax credit for capital invested in CCUS projects with the goal of reducing emissions by at least 15 megatonnes of CO2 annually. This measure will come into effect in 2022. Gender-Based Analysis+

The government will move quickly with a 90-day consultation period with stakeholders on the design of the investment tax credit, after which it will announce more details—including the rate of the incentive. It is not intended that the investment tax credit be available for Enhanced Oil Recovery projects. The government intends to make the credit available for direct air capture projects. The government will be seeking input from all industrial subsectors (e.g. oil sands, refining, cement, fertilizer, power generation, direct air capture, etc.), recognizing that various subsectors face different challenges in adopting CCUS. The tax credit will also support hydrogen production. During the consultation, the government will consider how equivalent tax support could be provided to producers of green hydrogen. The consultation will include key provincial governments, encouraging them to create complementary measures for CCUS projects in their jurisdictions.

Following consultations, the government intends to introduce legislation at the earliest opportunity to implement the investment tax credit.

The government will also analyze how the tax system can be used to further support the commercialization and deployment of breakthrough technologies that may be critical to creating our net-zero future.

Advancing Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Technologies

Canada is a leader in CCUS, with domestic projects that have already captured and stored millions of tonnes of CO2. Building on this Canadian advantage is integral to achieving our net-zero goals. But investment is needed to support research and development that will help to advance the technology, lower its costs, and make sure Canada stays ahead of the curve in the global market for CCUS.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $319 million over seven years, starting in 2021-22, with $1.5 million in remaining amortization, to Natural Resources Canada to support research, development, and demonstrations that would improve the commercial viability of carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies. Gender-Based Analysis+

Taken together, these proposed measures related to CCUS will help Canada achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, and position Canada as a leader in supplying cleaner energy and innovative new technologies around the world.

Cleaner Fuels for a Cleaner Environment

Canadians and Canadian businesses use fuel every day—to get from place to place, to produce goods, and to transport those goods to market. Innovators are finding ways to make the fuels we use cleaner and Canada’s Clean Fuel Standard is expected to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20 megatonnes in 2030 and help put us on the path to net-zero emissions by 2050.

• To implement and administer the Clean Fuel Standard, Budget 2021 proposes to provide $67.2 million over seven years, starting in 2021-22, with $0.05 million in remaining amortization, to Environment and Climate Change Canada. This standard creates new economic opportunities for Canada’s biofuel producers, including farmers and foresters, who are part of the diverse supply chain for low-carbon fuels. Making this investment now will secure Canada’s future competitiveness in the global transition to a low-carbon economy. Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting the Production and Use of Clean Fuels

Clean fuels, including hydrogen and biofuels, can help reduce pollution from everyday activities, from heating our homes to commuting. The production of these fuels offers new opportunities for Canada’s energy sector and ensures their hard work and ingenuity are a part of Canada’s economic recovery.

As originally announced on December 11, 2020, Budget 2021 proposes to provide $1.5 billion over five years, starting in 2021-22, with $0.9 million in remaining amortization, to Natural Resources Canada to establish a Clean Fuels Fund to support the production and distribution of low-carbon and zero-emission fuels, including hydrogen and biomass, across Canada, and around the world, as first announced in the government's strengthened climate plan. The fund would position Canada as a global hydrogen leader and deliver on the Hydrogen Strategy for Canada.

• Budget 2021 also proposes to provide $67.4 million over seven years, starting in 2021-22, with $5.6 million in remaining amortization and $10.7 million ongoing, for Measurement Canada to ensure that commercial transactions of low-carbon fuels are measured accurately just as they are for conventional fuels. Gender-Based Analysis+

These investments will help make sure Canada’s energy sector is a key player in the work to build a clean energy future.

Low-Carbon Fuel Procurement Program

Low-carbon fuels will be necessary as Canada works to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The Government of Canada is taking a leadership role to put itself on a 2050 net-zero pathway by committing to buy low-carbon fuels for use in the federal domestic air and marine fleets. By making this commitment now, the government will encourage industry to produce these fuels, creating jobs for Canadians and investing in the clean tech economy.

• To support the long-term development of low-emission marine and aviation fuels, Budget 2021 proposes to provide $227.9 million over eight years, starting in 2023-24, to the Treasury Board Secretariat to implement a Low-Carbon Fuel Procurement Program within the Greening Government Fund. Gender-Based Analysis+
• The government will also continue to use and expand federal procurement to support the Greening Government Strategy so that public dollars prioritize the use of lower carbon materials, fuels, and processes. Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting a Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy in British Columbia

British Columbians have long been leaders in clean energy innovation and building a more sustainable future. In 2018, the Government of British Columbia released CleanBC, a plan to achieve the province’s target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030, based on 2007 levels. As part of the CleanBC plan, British Columbia recently announced that it will help establish a new Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy to coordinate research, development and demonstration of clean technologies, including carbon capture, utilization, and storage, and clean fuels.

• The government will, in partnership with the Government of British Columbia, provide up to $35 million to help establish the Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy to advance the scale-up and commercialization of clean technologies in B.C. and across Canada. Gender-Based Analysis+

Investing in Clean Energy in Northern and Indigenous Communities

Canada’s North is warming at three times the global rate. Indigenous peoples are experiencing its impact on their way of life, which is closely tied to the land and waters. Many communities in the North rely on diesel or other emissions-intensive sources of energy, which not only contribute to climate change but also pollute the air. To help these communities transition to clean energy and make the air cleaner and healthier:

• Budget 2021 proposes to invest $40.4 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to support feasibility and planning of hydroelectricity and grid interconnection projects in the North. This funding could advance projects, such as the Atlin Hydro Expansion Project in Yukon and the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link Project in Nunavut. Projects will provide clean power to northern communities and help reduce emissions from mining projects. Gender-Based Analysis+
• Budget 2021 also proposes to invest $36 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, through the Strategic Partnerships Initiative, to build capacity for local, economically-sustainable clean energy projects in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities and support economic development opportunities. Gender-Based Analysis+

The Strategic Partnerships Initiative is a unique federal program that supports Indigenous communities at the early stages of complex large economic opportunities. To date, the federal government has invested more than $136 million in the Strategic Partnerships Initiative, supporting over 50 large-scale initiatives and fostering the creation of more than 200 successful partnerships in various sectors of the economy such as clean energy, tourism, and fisheries. These efforts have benefitted over 400 Indigenous communities and organizations across the country.

Additional work is happening across the country to further our commitments to clean energy, including the Atlantic Loop.

5.3 Advancing Canada’s Climate Plan

In December 2020, the government released its strengthened climate plan, A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy . Building on the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, the plan laid out $15 billion in new investments to ensure Canada will exceed its 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target.



In February, the government announced nearly $15 billion for public transit projects, which will support new subway extensions and help electrify transit fleets with zero-emission vehicles.

Canada has a clear climate plan—including one of the most stringent carbon pollution pricing approaches in the world—and we must do more. Set to announce a new, more ambitious 2030 climate target in the coming days, through Budget 2021 the government proposes $17.6 billion in additional investments towards a green recovery to create well-paying middle class jobs, build a clean economy, and fight and protect against climate change.

The investments made in Budget 2021, along with other action including strengthened alignment with the United States to further cut pollution from transportation and methane emissions, mean that Canada is now positioned to reduce emissions by about 36 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. The government will continue to work with domestic and international partners and stakeholders to take climate action, building Canadian prosperity on our journey to net-zero emissions by 2050.

Steering Canada’s Strengthened Climate Plan

Since 2015, the government has set an ambitious climate agenda. In 2020, it strengthened its climate plan and introduced the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act to legislate Canada’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. To support the government’s work to fight climate change and chart a course for a prosperous clean growth future:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $94.4 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, to Environment and Climate Change Canada to increase domestic and international capacity and action to address climate change, enhance clean tech policy capacity, including in support of the Clean Growth Hub, and to fund reporting requirements under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. Gender-Based Analysis+

Returning the Proceeds from the Price on Pollution

It is no longer free to pollute in Canada. That has been the case since 2019 and it was recently reaffirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Provincial and territorial governments have the option to introduce their own pollution pricing system, if that system meets the federal standard. For jurisdictions that choose not to, a federal backstop system applies—as is currently the case in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.

All direct proceeds are returned to Canadians and their communities, with approximately 90 per cent going directly to people through their Climate Action Incentive payment so more money goes back into the pockets of families, while they help reduce pollution and protect our environment. In fact, the majority of families receive more money back through the Climate Action Incentive than they pay into the federal system.

• Budget 2021 proposes to change the delivery of Climate Action Incentive payments from a refundable credit claimed annually on personal income tax returns to quarterly payments made through the benefit system starting in 2022. This will deliver Canadians’ Climate Action Incentive payments on a more regular basis. Further details will be announced later in 2021. Gender-Based Analysis+

The other approximately 10 per cent has been returned back to communities, such as through small businesses, schools, and Indigenous communities in those provinces. The government will continue to return all federal proceeds from the price on pollution back to Canadian families and their communities to help them make cleaner choices and protect the environment for future generations.

Support for Farmers

Recognizing that many farmers use natural gas and propane in their operations:

• Budget 2021 announces the government’s intention to return a portion of the proceeds from the price on pollution directly to farmers in backstop jurisdictions (currently Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario), beginning in 2021-22. It is estimated farmers would receive $100 million in the first year. Returns in future years will be based on proceeds from the price on pollution collected in the prior fiscal year, and are expected to increase as the price on pollution rises. Further details will be announced later in 2021 by the Minister of Finance. Gender-Based Analysis+
• Budget 2021 also proposes to ensure the recently expanded $165.5 million Agricultural Clean Technology program will prioritize $50 million for the purchase of more efficient grain dryers for farmers across Canada. Gender-Based Analysis+

These initiatives will help farmers transition to lower-carbon, more fuel-efficient ways of farming.

Agricultural Climate Solutions

Farmers are major players in Canada’s fight against climate change. The agricultural sector has the potential to scale up climate solutions, many of which are already underway across the country. Building on Canada’s climate action programs for farmers—including the $185 million Agricultural Climate Solutions program, and the $165 million Agricultural Clean Technology Program—Budget 2021 proposes to:

• Provide an additional $200 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to launch immediate, on-farm climate action under the Agricultural Climate Solutions program. This will target projects accelerating emission reductions by improving nitrogen management, increasing adoption of cover cropping, and normalizing rotational grazing. Gender-Based Analysis+
• Allocate $60 million over the next two years, from the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund to target the protection of existing wetlands and trees on farms, including through a reverse auction pilot program. Gender-Based Analysis+
• Allocate $10 million over the next two years, from the Agricultural Clean Technology Program toward powering farms with clean energy and moving off diesel. Gender-Based Analysis+

Integrating Climate into Federal Decisions

The government is an important player in Canada’s work to reach to net-zero emissions by 2050. Government decisions must consider climate mitigation and adaptation in a rigorous, consistent, and measurable manner.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $36.2 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, to Environment and Climate Change Canada to develop and apply a climate lens that ensures climate considerations are integrated throughout federal government decision-making. This includes resources to increase economic and emissions modelling capacity. Gender-Based Analysis+

Strengthening Public Climate-related Disclosures

In order to ensure a stable and predictable transition to a low-carbon economy, markets, insurers, policy makers, and the public require standardized information about the climate-related risks and opportunities organizations face.

The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures has helped governments, central banks, public companies, financial institutions, and other organizations with consistent and comparable voluntary international disclosure standards. To give more clarity to the markets as technology advances, regulations evolve, and consumer behaviours change in the face of climate change:

• The government will engage with provinces and territories, with the objective of making climate disclosures, consistent with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, part of regular disclosure practices for a broad spectrum of the Canadian economy.
• Canada’s Crown corporations will demonstrate climate leadership by adopting the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures standards, or according to, more rigorous, acceptable standards as applicable to the public sector at time of disclosure, as an element of their corporate reporting.
• Canada’s large Crown corporations (entities with over $1 billion in assets) will report on their climate-related financial risks for their financial years, starting in calendar year 2022 at the latest.
• Crown corporations with less than $1 billion in assets will be expected to start reporting on their climate-related financial risks for their financial years beginning in calendar year 2024 at the latest, or provide justification as to why climate risks do not have material impact on their operations.
Gender-Based Analysis+

In addition, recognizing the importance of nature, the Government of Canada is joining the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. The Task Force is developing a framework for corporations and financial institutions to assess, manage, and report on dependencies and impacts on nature.

Furthermore, in order to make sure that Crown corporations are transparent about the issues that matter to Canadians, Budget 2021 is announcing that Crown corporations will be required to implement gender and diversity reporting, starting in 2022.

Border Carbon Adjustments

Border carbon adjustments make sure that regulations on a price on carbon pollution apply fairly between trading partners. If a different price on pollution is levied at source, the difference is accordingly applied on imports and exports between countries. This levels the playing field, ensures competitiveness, and protects our shared environment. An important part of advancing this work is ensuring a common understanding of border carbon adjustments and hearing views from interested Canadians, as well as working with Canada’s international partners.

• The government intends to launch a consultation process on border carbon adjustments in the coming weeks. This consultation process will begin in the summer with targeted discussions, including with provinces and territories, importers, and exporters—especially those who deal in emissions-intensive goods. The broader public will be engaged this fall. Throughout this process, the government intends to continue its international engagement with like-minded partners. Gender-Based Analysis+

5.4 Building Green Homes and Communities

The energy used to heat and cool buildings accounts for 13 per cent of Canada’s emissions. Helping make our homes and other buildings in our communities more energy efficient not only lowers our emissions, it lowers our energy bills, too.

It is important to enhance Canada’s supply and production of the materials we need to build and power highly efficient and low-emitting homes and communities.

Investments in upgrading our buildings will also create good, local jobs, including for tradespeople and skilled workers.

Building greener communities can support a clean economy and create new economic opportunities and good middle class jobs across the country.

Lower Home Energy Bills Through Interest-free Loans for Retrofits

Climate action starts at home, and deep home energy retrofits can have a big effect on emissions reduction. Whether people replace drafty windows, improve insulation to keep homes warm in winter and cool in summer, or install heat pumps, deep retrofits will help Canadians make their homes more energy efficient and can also help to better protect their homes from climate risks.

Examples of deep retrofits to make our homes greener

• Replacing oil furnaces or low-efficiency systems with a high efficiency furnace, air source heat pump, or geothermal heat pump.
• Better wall or basement insulation and/or wall or roof panels.
• Installing a high-efficiency water heater or on-site renewable energy like solar panels.
• Replacing drafty windows and doors.

These retrofits also make our homes more comfortable, reduce our energy bills, and create good middle class jobs, especially for skilled workers and tradespeople. Furthermore, it can also help spur clean growth by developing an industry for energy efficient retrofits, including the development of a Canadian supply chain for high-efficiency home renovation products.

The 2020 Fall Economic Statement put forward a program to provide Canadians with one million free energy audits and up to 700,000 grants, valued at up to $5,000, to complete energy efficient home improvements. To help homeowners and build on these measures:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $4.4 billion on a cash basis ($778.7 million on an accrual basis over five years, starting in 2021-22, with $414.1 million in future years) to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to help homeowners complete deep home retrofits through interest-free loans worth up to $40,000. Loans would be available to homeowners and landlords who undertake retrofits identified through an authorized EnerGuide energy assessment. In combination with available grants announced in the Fall Economic Statement, this would help eligible participants make deeper, more costly retrofits that have the biggest impact in reducing a home’s environmental footprint and energy bills. This program will also include a dedicated stream of funding to support low-income homeowners and rental properties serving low-income renters including cooperatives and not-for-profit owned housing. Gender-Based Analysis+

The program would be available by summer 2021. It would be easily accessible through straightforward online tools, and is expected to help build Canadian supply chains for energy efficient products. It is estimated that more than 200,000 households would take advantage of this opportunity.

5.5 Adapting to Climate Change for a More Resilient Future

Climate-related disasters, such as flooding, wildfires, sea-level rise, coastal erosion, and permafrost degradation, are becoming more frequent and severe. These disasters have significant negative impacts on public safety, human health, and the economy. They can also result in costly damage to our communities.

Budget 2021 proposes a number of measures to better understand and prepare for climate-related disasters and to mitigate their impact. These measures would help make our communities safer and more resilient to a changing climate.

Strengthening Climate Resiliency

Climate change’s impacts—flooding, coastal erosion, permafrost thaw, and more—put Canada’s infrastructure at significant risk. This poses a threat to Canadians’ health, wealth, and safety. Climate-related disasters can result in billions of dollars in disruptions, damages, and recovery costs. To ensure Canada’s resilience in the face of climate change:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $1.4 billion over 12 years, starting in 2021-22, to Infrastructure Canada to top up the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund, to support projects such as wildfire mitigation activities, rehabilitation of storm water systems, and restoration of wetlands and shorelines.
• Of this, $670 million would be dedicated to new, small-scale projects between $1 million and $20 million in eligible costs. In addition, 10 per cent of the total funding envelope would be dedicated to Indigenous recipients to benefit each distinctions-based group. Together, this would support projects that help small, rural, remote, northern, and Indigenous communities adapt to climate change impacts.
Gender-Based Analysis+
• In addition, Budget 2021 proposes to invest $11.7 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, through Infrastructure Canada to renew the Standards to Support Resilience in Infrastructure Program, so that the Standards Council of Canada can continue updating standards and guidance in priority areas such as flood mapping and building in the North. This would help communities to plan and build roads, buildings, and other infrastructure that is more durable and resilient to a changing climate. Gender-Based Analysis+

Keeping Canadians Safer from Floods

Communities across Canada now face once-in-a century floods every few years due to climate change. These devastating deluges are damaging homes, businesses, and infrastructure. In fact, floods are Canada’s most costly natural disaster, causing over $1 billion in direct damage annually. To make our communities safer and more resilient:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $63.8 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Natural Resources Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Public Safety Canada to work with provinces and territories to complete flood maps for higher-risk areas. Gender-Based Analysis+

Improving Wildfire Resilience and Preparedness

Climate change is causing wildfires to become more frequent and more severe across Canada, threatening our health, economies, and wildlife. To improve our resilience to wildfires, make our communities safer, and adapt to climate change:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $100.6 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, with $4.7 million in remaining amortization, to the Parks Canada Agency to enhance wildfire preparedness in Canada’s National Parks. Gender-Based Analysis+
• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $28.7 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, with $0.6 million in remaining amortization, to Natural Resources Canada to support increased mapping of areas in Northern Canada at risk of wildfires. This funding would also enhance the capacity of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, which is jointly funded in partnership with provinces and territories. Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting Provincial and Territorial Disaster Response and Recovery

As climate change causes increased and catastrophic flooding, droughts, wildfires, and other natural disasters, public finances at the provincial and territorial level are steadily more strained. In the event of a large scale natural disaster, the federal Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements provide provinces and territories with the financial assistance they need to deliver the response and recovery services. To ensure provinces and territories have the capacity to keep people safe from the threats climate change poses:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $1.9 billion over five years, on a cash basis, starting in 2021–22, to Public Safety Canada to support provincial and territorial disaster response and recovery efforts. Gender-Based Analysis+

Addressing Climate Change in Yukon

Climate change threatens the safety and resilience of northern infrastructure, ecosystems, and traditional ways of life. To help Yukon adapt to the impacts of climate change:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $25 million, in 2021-22, to the Government of Yukon to support its climate change priorities, in collaboration with Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada. Gender-Based Analysis+

Preserving the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror

The wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, from the legendary and ill-fated Franklin Expedition of 1845, were discovered near Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Inuit co-manage the wrecks with Parks Canada. They are some of the best-preserved wooden wrecks in the world. They contain clues that can help us unravel one of the world’s greatest maritime mysteries. But reduced ice cover and increased sea swells caused by climate change are accelerating the deterioration of the HMS Erebus. To conserve and protect these historical treasures:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $15 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to accelerate archeological and conservation work of these artifacts of international importance. Gender-Based Analysis+

5.6 Protecting Nature

Canada is home to a quarter of the Earth’s wetlands and boreal forests, 20 per cent of its fresh water, the longest coastline in the world, and a fifth of the world’s remaining wilderness. We steward precious habitats for birds, fish, and animals. But many of the natural spaces and species we love are under threat from human activity and climate change.

Action is needed to conserve nature, address biodiversity loss, and protect our species at risk. Protected nature is also a critical part of Canada’s plan to fight climate change. Healthy forests and oceans can absorb and store carbon. We must also take action to address plastic pollution in our water.

Budget 2021 will make sure Canada reaches its goal of conserving 25 per cent of our lands and oceans by 2025, and create good jobs in the green economy along the way.

Historic Investments in Canada’s Natural Legacy

From farming, to fishing, to forestry, to tourism, millions of jobs rely on our nature. Investment in conservation is also an economic opportunity.

The Economic Challenges of the Global Biodiversity Crisis

Globally, nature is declining at unprecedented rates in human history—and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating. A 2019 report by the United Nations found that up to one million species are threatened with extinction globally. Furthermore, it found that 75 per cent of land-based environments, and 66 per cent of marine environments, have been altered by human actions.

There is a growing consensus that economies need to be aware of their dependence and impact on nature. The World Economic Forum ranks biodiversity loss as one of the top five risks to the global economy, one that could have “irreversible consequences for the environment, humankind, and economic activity, and a permanent destruction of natural capital, as a result of species extinction and/or reduction.”

Sources: UN Report: Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’; Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’ (2019); World Economic Forum Global Report (2020); Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2019).

To address the biodiversity crisis, fight climate change, and protect and create jobs:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $2.3 billion over five years, starting in 2021-22, with $100.5 million in remaining amortization, to Environment and Climate Change Canada, Parks Canada, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to:
• Conserve up to 1 million square kilometers more land and inland waters to achieve Canada’s 25 per cent protected area by 2025 target, including through national wildlife areas, and Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.
• Create thousands of jobs in nature conservation and management.
• Accelerate new provincial and territorial protected areas.
• Support Indigenous Guardians.
• Take action to prevent priority species at imminent risk of disappearing, including through partnerships with Indigenous peoples.
Gender-Based Analysis+

Taken together with funding provided for the Nature Legacy Initiative announced in Budget 2018, this represents the largest investment in nature conservation in Canada’s history.

Natural Infrastructure Fund

When people think of infrastructure, they often think of built infrastructure—bridges, roads, or buildings. But natural infrastructure is also a critical part of making our communities livable. Local parks, green spaces, and waterfronts are our natural infrastructure. Natural infrastructure is the natural spaces and wildlife crossings that support conservation and biodiversity, and provides the wetlands and marshes that help prevent flash floods.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $200 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Infrastructure Canada to establish a Natural Infrastructure Fund to support natural and hybrid infrastructure projects. This would help to improve well-being, mitigate the impacts of climate change, and prevent costly natural events. Gender-Based Analysis+

Natural Infrastructure Strategies in Canada

According to a report by the Greenbelt Foundation, investing in natural areas and reducing reliance on built infrastructure can help municipalities save money and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Cities across Canada are taking advantage of this opportunity and are investing in natural infrastructure, see examples below:

• The City of Toronto’s Ravine Strategy aims to protect, manage, and enhance the ecological services and recreational opportunities provided by an urban ravine network spanning more than 300 kilometres. The strategy focuses on ravine areas with high levels of existing use and where the surrounding neighbourhoods have limited access to public or private greenspace.
• The City of Vancouver’s Rain City Strategy uses natural solutions, such as absorbent landscaping, tree trenches, and green roofs, to prevent urban flooding and improve water quality. The strategy also aims to manage rainwater runoff from 40 per cent of impervious areas by 2050, and capture and clean 90 per cent of the city’s average annual rainfall.
• The City of Winnipeg’s Parks Strategy aims to connect people with nature, value ecological systems, promote active and outdoor living, and enhance accessibility for persons with disabilities to parks and natural spaces.
• The City of Saskatoon’s Green Strategy aims to provide a sustainable habitat for people and nature by building up urban forests, improving ecosystem health, enhancing resiliency to natural disasters, connecting people with nature, promoting active and outdoor living, and enhancing accessibility for persons with disabilities to parks and natural spaces.
• The City of Halifax’s Green Network Plan promotes the sustainable use of ecologically important green space, and enhances the use of land suited for outdoor recreation.
• The City of Montreal’s Vision 2030 Strategic Plan prioritizes nature in the city, putting biodiversity, green spaces, and the management and development of natural riverside and aquatic heritage at the heart of decision-making. The plan aims to ensure that everyone has access to local parks, and includes planting trees and plants in neighbourhoods and along the riverbanks in order to protect biodiversity.

Sources: Greenbelt Foundation Occasional Papers (2019), “Investing in the Future: The Economic Case for Natural Infrastructure in Ontario” (PDF); City of Toronto (2017), Toronto Ravine Strategy (PDF); City of Vancouver (2019), “Rain City Strategy: A green rainwater infrastructure and rainwater management initiative” (PDF); City of Winnipeg (2021), Winnipeg Parks Strategy (draft) (PDF); City of Saskatoon (2021), Green Strategy; City of Halifax (2018), Green Network Plan (PDF); City of Montréal (2020), Montréal 2030: Citywide Strategic Plan (PDF).

Conserving Canada’s Oceans

Canada’s coastline is the longest of any country in the world and the government is committed to protecting 25 per cent of its marine and coastal areas by 2025, working towards 30 per cent by 2030. In addition to being home for whales, fish, and other marine life, oceans play a critical role in capturing carbon in the atmosphere.

Canada’s marine and coastal areas also support numerous jobs, livelihoods, and communities. The blue economy in Canada contributed $36.1 billion in gross domestic product in 2018 and accounts for close to 300,000 jobs.

To help meet our conservation targets, protect against loss of marine habitat, and address the challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $976.8 million over five years, starting in 2021–22, with $80.0 million in remaining amortization, to help Canada reach its 25 per cent by 2025 target to protect the health of our oceans, commercial fishing stocks, and Canadians’ quality of life, especially in coastal communities. Gender-Based Analysis+

Reducing Ocean Plastics that Threaten Marine Life

“Ghost gear” is commercial fishing gear that has been abandoned, lost, or discarded and is estimated to be up to 70 per cent of the plastic waste, by weight, in our oceans. It is one of the deadliest forms of marine litter around the world, pollutes our waters and coasts, endangers global fishing stocks, and poses navigation hazards. Since 2019, Canada has demonstrated international leadership in efforts to clean up ghost gear. To continue work to reduce plastic waste in our oceans:

• Budget 2021 proposes a $10 million increase, in 2021-22, to the Sustainable Fisheries Solutions and Retrieval Support Program, the ”Ghost Gear Fund” at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, to assist projects that retrieve ghost gear, dispose of fishing related plastic waste, test new fishing technology, and support international efforts to decrease ghost gear. The program also contributes to job creation. Gender-Based Analysis+

Preserving Wild Pacific Salmon

Since the early 1990s, Pacific salmon stocks have declined by up to 93 per cent. Wild Pacific salmon are facing threats from climate change, contaminants, and changes in land and water use. The protection and recovery of wild Pacific salmon stocks is a priority for the federal government. Action is needed to protect and recover this iconic species—for thousands of workers in rural and coastal communities, and hundreds of First Nations communities in British Columbia and Yukon that fish salmon for food, social, and ceremonial reasons. Building on previous investments of $246.3 million to enable salmon passage in the Fraser River following the Big Bar landslide:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $647.1 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, with $98.9 million in remaining amortization to Fisheries and Oceans Canada to:
• Stabilize and conserve wild Pacific salmon populations, including through investment in research, new hatchery facilities, and habitat restoration.
• Create a Pacific Salmon Secretariat and Restoration Centre of Expertise.
• Improve management of commercial and recreational fisheries.
• Double the British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund with an additional $100 million.
• Further engage with First Nations and fish harvesters.
Gender-Based Analysis+

Sustainable Aquaculture Management

An updated approach to aquaculture is essential to ensure operations are sustainable, and that marine ecosystems and wild fish populations—in particular wild salmon and other species facing risk to recovery—are protected.

To help position Canada as a leader in innovative and sustainable aquaculture while protecting and rebuilding wild fish stocks, and building on the $55.5 million recently provided to the Sustainable Aquaculture Program:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $20 million over two years to Fisheries and Oceans Canada to expand engagement with the Province of British Columbia, Indigenous communities, industry, scientists, and other stakeholders. This consultation would inform the development of a responsible plan to transition from open net-pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia waters by 2025. Gender-Based Analysis+
• In addition, Budget 2021 also proposes to invest $3 million over two years to pilot area based management approaches to planning, management, and monitoring of aquaculture activities in priority areas on the B.C. coast—leading the way in developing aquaculture practices that are economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable. Gender-Based Analysis+

Developing the Canada Water Agency

The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration was created in 1935 when farmers were facing a period of long, severe drought. For nearly 75 years it assisted Western Canadian farmers, supporting water conservation and irrigation projects. Its closure in 2009 created a gap as Canada lost an important tool to manage its waters. Since then, water management has become a broader issue connected to climate change, conservation, and the health of Canadians. To fill this gap and begin work towards the launch of a new Canada Water Agency that would keep our water safe, clean, and well managed:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $17.4 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to Environment and Climate Change Canada to support work with the provinces, territories, Indigenous peoples, and key stakeholders on the scope of the agency’s mandate, including identifying opportunities to build and support more resilient water and irrigation infrastructure. The agency would be headquartered outside the National Capital Region. Gender-Based Analysis+

Better Understanding Our Environment

The government is committed to building a robust foundation of data to better understand the impacts of climate change and protect our diverse ecosystems. To increase our knowledge of Canada’s environment, ecosystems, and species, and their relationship to local communities, the government plans to undertake Canada’s first-ever Census of the Environment.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $25.6 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $5.8 million per year ongoing to Statistics Canada, and $1.9 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $0.3 million per year ongoing to Environment and Climate Change Canada to create a Census of the Environment to help monitor environmental trends and better inform decision making. Gender-Based Analysis+

Support for the Polar Continental Shelf Program

For over 50 years, the Polar Continental Shelf Program has enabled research across Canada’s Arctic. Scientific interest in this important ecosystem has increased in recent years, as has the cost of basic supplies and logistical infrastructure.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $25.4 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, with $5.7 million in remaining amortization, to Natural Resources Canada to support pan-Arctic scientific research through the Polar Continental Shelf Program. These activities would also enhance employment and training opportunities for Indigenous people and northerners. Gender-Based Analysis+

Continuing Canada’s Chemicals Management Regime

The Chemicals Management Plan was created in 2006 to assess chemicals used in Canada and take action on those found to be harmful. To renew the Chemicals Management Plan and continue to protect Canadians and the environment from exposure to chemicals that can be harmful:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $476.7 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, with $0.9 million in remaining amortization, to Environment and Climate Change Canada, Health Canada, and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Gender-Based Analysis+

Chapter 5
A Healthy Environment for a Healthy Economy
millions of dollars

	2020- 2021	2021- 2022	2022- 2023	2023- 2024	2024- 2025	2025- 2026	Total
5.1. Growing our Net-zero Economy	0	80	171	147	136	146	678
Propelling Clean Tech Projects	0	19	58	58	58	58	250
Growing Zero-emission Technology Manufacturing	0	1	10	10	10	15	46
Accelerating Investment in Clean Energy Technologies	0	14	22	30	34	42	142
Enhancing Canada’s Supply of Critical Minerals	0	11	19	17	0	0	46
Charging and Fueling Zero-emission Vehicles	0	4	12	14	13	13	56
Federal Clean Electricity Fund	0	0	1	5	5	5	15
Reducing Transportation and Landfill Emissions	0	19	22	21	22	21	105
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	-7	-7	-7	-7	-7	-37
Investing in the Forest-based Bio-economy	0	20	35	0	0	0	55
5.2. Investing in our Clean Energy Future	0	133	452	470	463	425	1,943
Advancing Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Technologies	0	20	50	50	50	50	220
Tax Incentive for Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage	Final costing pending consultation
Cleaner Fuels for a Cleaner Environment	0	10	10	10	10	10	48
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	-4	-4	-4	-3	-3	-20
Supporting the Production and Use of Clean Fuels1	0	82	372	378	376	338	1,546
Low-Carbon Fuel Procurement Program	0	0	0	11	31	31	73
Supporting the CleanBC Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy	0	1	6	9	11	9	35
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	-1	-6	-9	-11	-9	-35
Investing in Clean Energy in Northern and Indigenous Communities	0	25	25	25	0	0	76
5.3. Advancing Canada’s Climate Plan	0	115	119	20	20	20	295
Steering Canada’s Strengthened Climate Plan	0	19	19	19	19	19	94
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	-7	-7	-7	-7	-7	-34
Agricultural Climate Solutions	0	100	100	0	0	0	200
Integrating Climate into Federal Decisions	0	5	7	8	8	8	36
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	-2	0	0	0	0	-2
5.4. Building Green Homes and Communities	0	90	131	221	163	174	779
Lowering Home Energy Bills through Interest-free Loans for Retrofits	0	90	131	221	163	174	779
5.5. Adapting to Climate Change for a More Resilient Future	0	62	77	145	186	303	774
Strengthening Climate Resiliency	0	5	33	100	169	287	593
Keeping Canadians Safer from Floods	0	16	24	24	0	0	64
Improving Wildfire Resilience and Preparedness	0	22	26	27	27	27	129
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	-11	-11	-11	-11	-11	-53
Supporting Provincial and Territorial Disaster Response and Recovery	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Addressing Climate Change in Yukon	0	25	0	0	0	0	25
HMS Erebus and HMS Terror	0	5	5	5	0	0	15
5.6. Protecting Nature	0	605	868	985	869	807	4,133
Historic Investments in Canada’s Natural Legacy	0	457	542	544	480	473	2,497
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	-153	-224	-3	-3	-3	-386
Conserving Canada’s Oceans	0	158	290	196	243	199	1,086
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	-32	-30	-16	-16	-16	-109
Reducing Ocean Plastics that Threaten Marine Life	0	10	0	0	0	0	10
Preserving Wild Pacific Salmon	0	35	158	149	158	147	647
Sustainable Aquaculture Management	0	12	12	0	0	0	23
Developing the Canada Water Agency	0	9	8	0	0	0	17
Better Understanding Our Environment	0	4	5	6	6	6	27
Support for the Polar Continental Shelf Program	0	7	9	9	0	0	25
Continuing Canada’s Chemicals Management Regime	0	159	159	159	0	0	477
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	-61	-61	-61	0	0	-182
Additional Investments – A Healthy Environment for a Healthy Economy	0	90	47	9	1	1	149
Replacing Lost Revenue at Parks Canada due to COVID-19	0	72	0	0	0	0	72
Funding proposed for the Parks Canada Agency to continue to replace future lost visitor revenues due to closures and restrictions at national parks, national marine conservation areas, and national historic sites as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.
Continuing to Protect Canada’s Oceans	0	2	0	0	0	0	2
Funding proposed for Fisheries and Oceans Canada to support the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Chapter in the Arctic and the Indigenous Community Boat Volunteer Pilot Program, which helps Indigenous coastal communities in the Arctic purchase boats and water safety equipment. These programs improve the safety of oceans and waterways by ensuring communities can effectively respond to marine emergencies.
Lake of the Woods	0	2	0	0	0	0	2
Funding proposed for Environment and Climate Change Canada to maintain research and monitoring activities and to develop phosphorus pollution reduction targets in Lake of the Woods, located between Ontario and Manitoba. This will allow the federal government to continue its efforts to address toxic algae in the Lake.
Renewing the Clean Growth Hub and Clean Technology Data Strategy	0	8	8	8	0	0	24
Funding proposed for Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Natural Resources Canada to renew Canada’s single source window to streamline client services and improve federal program coordination and reporting on clean technology results across government. Funding proposed to also enable continued generation and dissemination of data necessary to understanding how the Canadian clean technology sector is being affected by the cumulative impact of clean growth initiatives and global circumstances.
Interim Capital Asset Program Capacity Funding for Parks Canada	0	0	35	0	0	0	35
Funding proposed for the Parks Canada Agency to maintain its internal capacity to manage its capital assets.
Learning to Camp	0	3	3	3	3	3	13
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-7
Funding proposed for the Parks Canada Agency to continue an expanded Learn to Camp program to provide Canadians with the skills and experience needed to fully enjoy the great Canadian outdoors.
Continuing Ballast Water Management	0	2	2	0	0	0	5
Funding proposed for Transport Canada to continue the Canadian Ballast Water Program, which is responsible for administering and enforcing ballast water regulations. The program helps protect Canada's marine environments from potentially invasive aquatic species. Funding will also support the introduction of new ballast water regulations.
Continuing Tanker Safety Inspections	0	3	0	0	0	0	3
Funding proposed for Transport Canada to continue the Tanker Safety Inspection Program, which inspects every foreign tanker vessel on its first arrival at a Canadian port and annually thereafter. The program helps protect Canadian marine environments against hazardous material spills or leaks.
Chapter 5 - Net Fiscal Impact	0	1,175	1,865	1,997	1,837	1,877	8,750
Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding 1 *Announced in December 2020.

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Chapter 6:
Strengthening the Cities and Communities We Call Home

Strong and resilient cities, towns, and communities are the backbone of a strong economy and a growing middle class.

Cities, towns, and communities have been hard-hit by COVID-19. High infection rates have put many under public health restrictions for over a year.

As Canadians begin the work of building back better together, the government has a plan to develop more prosperous, inclusive, healthy, and vibrant communities across Canada. This includes investing in economic development in every corner of the country, supporting sectors like tourism, arts, and culture that have been disproportionately affected by lockdowns and travel restrictions, and working with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to address longstanding challenges that predate the pandemic, such as affordable housing and aging infrastructure.

6.1 A Place to Call Home

High housing costs, especially in urban centres, continue to place middle class and low-income Canadians under huge financial pressure. For some, high housing costs have become a barrier to pursuing promising opportunities in a new community. Housing unaffordability can even lead to homelessness. As of 2018, more than 1.6 million Canadian households live in core housing need.

Combined with some constraints on housing inventory caused by COVID-19, the low interest rate environment has contributed to a recent surge in housing prices in a number of communities. It is more urgent than ever that the government take action to make housing more affordable.

The government is taking action on several fronts to alleviate this pressure, including proposing a tax on underused housing to support investments in housing affordability (Chapter 10), investments in public transit that will help local governments unlock more housing supply (section 6.4), and historic investments in early learning and child care to make life more affordable for young families (Chapter 3). It is also investing to build greener homes and boost Canadian supply chains (Chapter 5).

In addition, earlier this month, the Superintendent of Financial Institutions restarted consultations on the minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages. This would help to ensure that borrowers are able to make their mortgage payments. Maintaining the health and stability of Canada's housing market is essential to protecting middle class families and to Canada's broader economic recovery. Stable housing is critical for communities and for a strong middle class.

That’s why the government has a plan to invest $2.5 billion, and reallocate $1.3 billion in existing funding to speed up the construction, repair, or support of 35,000 affordable housing units. This will help families, young people, low-income Canadians, people experiencing homelessness, and women and children fleeing violence find a safe and affordable place to call home. And the government will ensure these projects meet the energy efficiency requirements set out under the National Housing Strategy, which will reduce their carbon footprints and reduce families’ energy bills.

More Affordable Housing

The COVID-19 recession has widened gaps in Canadians’ access to housing. These gaps, if not addressed, could deepen cleavages in our communities and exacerbate social inequalities. By contrast, investments in affordable housing can act fast to create jobs and prosperity.

Furthermore, investments to make housing more affordable for the most vulnerable, coupled with measures to limit foreign speculation in the housing market, will help ensure that our economic recovery is an inclusive one that helps more people join the middle class. Access to affordable homes will give more Canadians opportunities to find better jobs and create better futures.

After years of inaction, the government restored support for the construction of affordable housing in 2017, recognizing that these are vital investments.

To help Canadians find affordable housing, spur job creation and local economic recovery, alleviate cost pressure in the housing market overall, and grow the middle class:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide an additional $2.5 billion over seven years, starting in 2021-22, to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, including: Gender-Based Analysis+
  • An additional $1.5 billion for the Rapid Housing Initiative in 2021-22 to address the urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians by providing them with adequate affordable housing in short order. At least 25 per cent of this funding would go towards women-focused housing projects, and units would be constructed within 12 months of when funding is provided to program applicants. Overall, this new funding will add a minimum of 4,500 new affordable units to Canada’s housing supply, building on the 4,700 units already funded in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement through its $1 billion investment.
  • $600 million over seven years, starting in 2021-22, to renew and expand the Affordable Housing Innovation Fund, which encourages new funding models and innovative building techniques in the affordable housing sector. To date, this program has committed funding to support the creation of over 17,600 units, including more than 16,300 affordable housing units and units for persons with accessibility challenges. This new funding will support the creation of up to 12,700 more units, bringing the total to over 30,000 units.
  • $315.4 million over seven years, starting in 2021-22, through the Canada Housing Benefit, to increase direct financial assistance for low-income women and children fleeing violence to help with their rent payments.
  • $118.2 million over seven years, starting in 2021-22, through the Federal Community Housing Initiative, to support community housing providers that deliver long-term housing to many of our most vulnerable.
• In addition to these new investments, Budget 2021 proposes to advance and reallocate $1.3 billion, on a cash basis, of previously announced funding, including: Gender-Based Analysis+
  • $750 million in funding under the National Housing Co-Investment Fund, which is proposed to be advanced to 2021-22 and 2022-23. This will accelerate the creation of 3,400 new units, and the repair of 13,700 units.
  • $250 million in funding under the National Housing Co-Investment Fund, which will be allocated to support the construction, repair, and operating costs of an estimated 560 units of transitional housing and shelter spaces for women and children fleeing violence. This targeted funding is being reallocated—including advancing $200 million to 2021-22 and 2022-23—to make sure the government delivers on its commitments, and reinforces the government’s efforts to address gender-based violence, including the measures outlined in the forthcoming National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence (more details in Chapter 9).
  • $300 million in funding in 2021-22 and 2022-23 from the Rental Construction Financing Initiative, which will be allocated to support the conversion of vacant commercial property into housing. As the demand for retail and office space has changed due to COVID, some landlords, particularly in major urban cores, are facing higher vacancies. This is an opportunity for property owners and communities to explore converting excess space into rental housing, enhancing the livability and affordability of urban communities. This funding will explore this new approach to development and target the conversion of excess commercial property space into 800 units of market-based rental housing.

Table 6.1
Units Supported Under Select National Housing Strategy Programs

Select National Housing Strategy Funding Programs	Supported since 2017	Supported through Budget 2021
Rapid Housing Initiative	4,700	4,500
Affordable Housing Innovation Fund	17,600	12,700
National Housing Co-Investment Fund, excluding shelters	12,400 new 65,900 repaired	3,400 new 13,700 repaired
National Housing Co-Investment Fund, shelters	800 new 150 repaired	560
Rental Construction Financing Initiative	24,900	800
Total (new or repaired)	126,450	35,660
Note: Units supported through Budget 2021 under the National Housing Co-Investment Fund and Rental Construction Financing Initiative are not incremental; they represent a reallocation of existing funding, as described above.

The government also recognizes that access to safe and sustainable housing can be particularly challenging in the North.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $25 million, in 2021-22, to the Government of the Northwest Territories to address housing priorities. Funding will support the construction of 30 new public housing units across the Territory. Gender-Based Analysis+
• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $25 million, in 2021-22, to the Government of Nunavut to support the Territory’s short-term housing and infrastructure needs including priority redevelopment and refurbishment projects resulting in approximately 100 new housing units. Gender-Based Analysis+

National Housing Strategy

In 2017, the federal government announced Canada’s first ever National Housing Strategy: a ten-year plan to help improve the affordability, availability, and quality of housing for Canadians.

The strategy prioritizes support for the most vulnerable people in society, including young adults, seniors, Indigenous peoples, those dealing with mental health and addiction issues, and women and children fleeing violence.

At least 25 per cent of National Housing Strategy investments are committed to support projects that specifically target the unique needs of women and their children. The government remains committed to eliminating chronic homelessness.

The Government of Canada is currently on track to deliver over $70 billion by 2027-28 to help more Canadians find a place to call home. This covers a wide range of investments, including:

• Over $15 billion in joint funding with provinces and territories directed towards community housing, households in need through the Canada Housing Benefit, and support for provincial and territorial housing priorities related to repair, construction, and affordability.
• Over $10 billion in support of community and social housing.
• Nearly $3 billion for Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy.
• Over $1 billion to improve home ownership options, including through the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive.
• Over $40 billion to support new construction and repair of affordable housing. As of December 2020, over $11.5 billion of this funding had been committed, which will support the creation of over 58,900 new units and the repair of over 68,000 units.

Of the overall $70 billion in National Housing Strategy funding, over $25 billion has been committed as of December 2020.

Ending Homelessness

COVID-19 has exacerbated many of the hardships faced by Canadians experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. Many have had to choose between the harsh cold of the streets or the risk of an outbreak in shelters.

Since 2019, the government has launched more than 1,200 projects to support Canadians experiencing homelessness. Through the pandemic the government has more than doubled funding for Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy. But more work needs to be done if we are to make sure no one in Canada is without a place to call home. Given the progress that has been made, and its commitment to do more, the government is now focused on entirely eliminating chronic homelessness in Canada.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide an additional $567 million over two years, beginning in 2022-23, to Employment and Social Development Canada for Reaching Home. This would maintain the 2021-22 funding levels announced in the Fall Economic Statement in response to the pressures of COVID-19. Gender-Based Analysis+

Every year, thousands of veterans access emergency shelters. After their service, every veteran deserves a home.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $45 million over two years, beginning in 2022-23, for Employment and Social Development Canada to pilot a program aimed at reducing veteran homelessness through the provision of rent supplements and wrap-around services for homeless veterans such as counselling, addiction treatment, and help finding a job. Gender-Based Analysis+



6.2 Restoring Tourism, Arts, Culture, and Sport

From the Calgary Stampede, to the Stratford Festival, to the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, to Halifax Pride, to Montréal Just for Laughs—the festivals, local cultural celebrations, concerts, exhibits, and live shows that draw us together, tell our stories, and reinforce our cultural diversity have been severely affected by the pandemic.

Restrictions on gatherings likewise mean that we have not been able to play many of the sports we love, watch the talent of our competitive athletes at live events, or take part in the amateur tournaments that many Canadians and their families work so hard towards.

Cultural experiences and sport are central to our well-being and although Canadians have forgone them out of safety, the many workers and organizations in the sector have faced significant difficulties.

The tourism industry has been especially hard hit by the pandemic recession and for some regions of the country, especially Atlantic Canada, the impacts have been significant. Reductions in flights have compounded the impacts.

As part of its plan to support the air sector, the government is committed to supporting the return of regional routes across the country in a way that continues to prioritize the health, safety, and security of all Canadians.

As the public health situation improves, the government expects to see the return of those routes back to the Atlantic provinces, who have worked hard to protect Atlantic Canadians. When the resumption of travel is safe, tourism in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador will be particularly important to those economies.

Federal emergency support programs have provided support to businesses and workers across the tourism, arts, and culture sectors. To date, businesses and non-profit organizations in these sectors have received an estimated $15.4 billion in support to pay workers through the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, support for rent and mortgages through the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance, the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy, and Lockdown Support, as well as support for small businesses through the Canada Emergency Business Account.

The government’s plan will support our economic recovery, restoring and creating jobs in these sectors, drawing visitors to towns and cities across the country, and unleashing spending that stimulates local economies.

Revitalizing Tourism

The impact of COVID-19 on workers and businesses in tourism, arts, and culture has been severe.

With the rollout of vaccines underway, businesses in the tourism, arts, and culture sectors are getting ready to welcome Canadians back to experience the great places and activities this country has to offer—when it is safe to do so. Canadians are also eager to return to the local festivals and places they know and love.

To assist the sectors’ recovery, the government proposes to make available a further package of supports, totalling $1 billion over three years, starting in 2021-22.

Major Festivals

Canada’s major festivals not only showcase the best of Canadian culture and talent—they also create thousands of jobs for vendors, technicians, production crews, and more. To support Canada’s world-class arts and cultural festivals that have drawn millions of visitors from all over the world to Canada:

• Budget 2021 proposes to invest $200 million through the regional development agencies to support major festivals. This would ensure they can continue to celebrate our artistic excellence and unique character. Gender-Based Analysis+

Community Festivals and Events

To support Canada’s many local festivals, celebrations, and amateur sport events that draw visitors to our communities:  

• Budget 2021 proposes to invest $200 million through Canadian Heritage to support local festivals, community cultural events, outdoor theatre performances, heritage celebrations, local museums, amateur sport events, and more. Gender-Based Analysis+

Helping Visitors Discover Canada

To ensure that Canada is a destination of choice when domestic and international travel is once again safe:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $100 million to Destination Canada for marketing campaigns to help Canadians and other visitors discover and explore the country. Gender-Based Analysis+

Support for Local Tourism Businesses

Recognizing the impact COVID-19 has had on tourism businesses and that even as economies open, business and international travel will take time to recover:

• Budget 2021 proposes to establish a $500 million Tourism Relief Fund, administered by the regional development agencies. The Fund will support investments by local tourism businesses in adapting their products and services to public health measures and other investments that will help them recover from the pandemic and position themselves for future growth.   Gender-Based Analysis+

These measures would be complemented by other Budget 2021 announcements, such as measures to support safe air travel (see section 1.6 in Chapter 1), and the expansion of the Canada Small Business Financing Program (see section 4.2 in Chapter 4).

Supporting Canada’s Active Recovery

Canadians of all ages have sacrificed time on the field, at the park, and on the ice to keep each other safe. Young Canadians, in particular, have missed out on the chance to learn new skills and make memories with their teammates. Sports and physical activity play a critical role in our mental health and in the social and economic revitalization of our communities. To get Canadians moving again when it is safe to do so:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $80 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to Canadian Heritage to remove barriers to participation in sports programming and to help community organizations kick-start local organized sports that are accessible to all. Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting Canada's Arts, Culture, Heritage, and Sport Organizations and Workers

Across Canada, the organizations that host artistic, heritage, and sport events and exhibits have been among the hardest hit during the pandemic, and many Canadian artists and cultural workers have struggled to find work.

Before the pandemic began, an estimated 410,000 Canadians worked in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industries in February 2020, but that number fell drastically throughout the following year (Chart 6.1).



With reduced revenues, many heritage, arts, and sport organizations run the risk of not surviving through to the other side of the pandemic without additional support. In the Fall Economic Statement, the government committed to provide over $180 million in 2021-22 to support artists and live events. This funding builds on the Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations announced in May 2020, approximately $225 million of which was used to support over 6,000 cultural organizations, arts and heritage institutions, music producers, sport organizations, and artists across Canada in 2020-21.

Supporting the Recovery of Arts, Culture, Heritage and Sport Sectors

To promote recovery from the pandemic for heritage, arts, and sport sectors that contribute so much to the cultural life of Canada:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $300 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to Canadian Heritage to establish a Recovery Fund for Heritage, Arts, Culture, Heritage and Sport Sectors. Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting Performing Arts and Community Events

To support the performing arts festivals and community-based cultural events, celebrations, and commemorations that make our communities stronger:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $49.6 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Canadian Heritage for the Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage Program ($14 million over two years, starting in 2022-23), the Canada Arts Presentation Fund ($16 million over two years, starting in 2022-23), and the Celebration and Commemoration Program ($19.6 million over three years, starting in 2021-22). Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting Musicians and Music Venues

To help Canadian musicians, concert venues, producers, and distributors:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $70 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Canadian Heritage for the Canada Music Fund. This includes up to $50 million in 2021-22 to help the live music sector, including music venues, weather the pandemic. Gender-Based Analysis+

Making Cultural Spaces Safe During COVID-19

To help arts and heritage institutions upgrade their facilities to meet public health guidelines:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $15 million in 2021-22 to Canadian Heritage for the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund. Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting the National Arts Centre

The National Arts Centre (NAC) is Canada’s home for the performing arts. It is the largest bilingual performing arts centre in Canada and nurtures the next generation of artists and audiences. Due to COVID-19, cancelled performances and events have had a major impact on the NAC, resulting in significant revenue loss. The NAC plays a vital role in the career of many performing artists, singer-songwriters, dancers, playwrights, choreographers, actors, and directors from across the country.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $17.2 million in 2021-22 to the National Arts Centre to address financial pressures caused by COVID-19 and to ensure the NAC will continue to support artists and celebrate Canadian culture. Gender-Based Analysis+
• Budget 2021 also proposes to provide $6 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to the National Arts Centre to support collaborations with equity deserving groups to help relaunch the performing arts sector. Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting Canadian TV and Film Productions through COVID-19

In September 2020, to support Canadian television and film productions interrupted by the pandemic, the government announced a $50 million Short-Term Compensation Fund. 

In February 2021, the government extended the fund into 2021-22 and doubled the funding to up to $100 million so that, during the peak spring and summer production period this year, filmmakers and producers have access to this critical backstop that reduces the financial risk productions face amidst ongoing COVID-19 shutdowns.

The fund is administered by Telefilm Canada and will support the resilience of this important $9.3-billion industry and help maintain well over 150,000 jobs for the industry’s artists and workers.

Investing in Telefilm Canada

The shift to digital media is changing the landscape for Canadian film and television production and increasing global competition for online streaming content. To make sure Canadian film tells the story of all of Canada’s diverse peoples and reaches audiences all over the world:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $105 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, for Telefilm Canada to modernize its current suite of programs to provide better access to a diverse range of creators and producers, support green practices, and respond to increasing digitization in the audiovisual industry. Gender-Based Analysis+

Encouraging Diverse Voices in Canadian TV and Film

To provide opportunities for equity deserving creators to build skills and experience, and to support greater diversity in top-tier productions:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $60 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to the Canada Media Fund to increase support for productions led by people from equity deserving groups working in the Canadian audiovisual industry. Gender-Based Analysis+

Support for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation / Radio-Canada

Like many media organizations, during the pandemic the CBC/Radio-Canada has experienced declining advertising revenues that threaten its capacity to continue delivering public television and radio programs. To support Canada’s public broadcaster, the CBC/Radio-Canada, and ensure it can continue to report local and national news in both official languages:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $21 million in 2021-22 as immediate operational support to the CBC/Radio-Canada. This funding will ensure its stability during the pandemic and enable it to continue providing news and entertainment programming that keeps Canadians informed. Gender-Based Analysis+

Support for the Canadian Book Industry

Canada has given the world some of the best stories, told by some of the best authors. Novels about an orphan on PEI, Mennonite towns in Manitoba, young Black immigrants in the Arctic, or life on a reserve in Northern B.C. draw the world into uniquely Canadian landscapes and export our diverse perspectives. Biographies, histories, and non-fiction that critique Canadian society make sure that a faithful record of the Canadian experience is kept.

Canadian book publishers and booksellers make sure Canadian stories get told and shared with the world. With the rise of e-commerce giants, investment is needed to help Canadian books find their way into the hands of readers.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide a total of $39.3 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to Canadian Heritage to support the Canadian book industry. This includes $32.1 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to help bookstores increase online sales and $7.2 million in 2021-22 to promote Canada’s book industry at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world’s largest trade fair for books. Gender-Based Analysis+

Protecting Canada’s Historic Places

From coast to coast to coast, Canada is home to a rich portfolio of historic places across the country. Canadians expect their governments to protect Canada’s historic places so that they can be enjoyed and preserved for future generations. But currently, there is no legal obligation to protect the heritage value of many of the over 300 federally-owned historic places in Canada.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $28.7 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $5.8 million ongoing, for the Parks Canada Agency to implement new legislation that, if enacted, would provide for a transparent designation framework as well as the sustainable protection of the over 300 federally-owned historic places. Gender-Based Analysis+

Memorial to the Victims of Communism

Commemorative monuments are built to reflect the values, identity, history, and character of Canada. The Memorial to the Victims of Communism will recognize Canada as a place of refuge for people fleeing injustice and persecution and honour the millions who have suffered under communist regimes. The memorial is currently under construction in Canada’s National Capital Region and needs additional funding in order to be completed.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $4 million in 2021-22 to Canadian Heritage to support the completion of the Memorial to the Victims of Communism. Gender-Based Analysis+

6.3 Building Stronger Communities

Canada’s charities, non-profits, social enterprises, and other organizations provide vital services to our communities, including to the most vulnerable members of Canadian society. They work constantly to address hunger, improve socioeconomic outcomes for diverse Canadians, and keep communities connected and informed.

These organizations have provided essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic but they have also faced hardship. The Government of Canada is committed to providing them with temporary support. As we navigate our recovery, we must also bolster Canada’s thriving social sector so that we can build healthy, resilient, and inclusive communities across the country.

Helping Charities, Non-profits, and Social Purpose Organizations Grow

Communities across Canada face complex social, economic, and environmental challenges—many of which have been deepened by the COVID-19 crisis. Thousands of charities, non-profits, co-operatives, and other social purpose organizations are committed to addressing these challenges directly at the community level. During the pandemic, many have seen demand for their services surge while watching their revenues plummet.

The sector employs over 611,000 people, many of whom are women, Black and racialized Canadians, young people, newcomers, and others who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. These organizations have invaluable on-the-ground knowledge of their communities’ needs and provide much-needed community and social support. They are key partners in our work to reopen and rebuild our communities.

Social finance is about mobilizing private capital to bring about public good. To support the growth of social finance in Canada, strengthen our social sector, ensure our most vulnerable can access much-needed services, and help our communities recover more quickly:

• The government is proposing to launch planned disbursements of the $755 million Social Finance Fund and deploy up to $220 million over its first two years. It is estimated that the Social Finance Fund could attract up to $1.5 billion in private sector capital to support the development of the social finance market, create thousands of new jobs, and drive positive social change. Gender-Based Analysis+

To ensure charities, non-profits, and social purpose organizations have the skills and capacity needed to access social finance opportunities:

• Budget 2021 proposes to renew the Investment Readiness Program for $50 million over two years, starting in 2021-22. This program supports charities, non-profits, and social purpose organizations in capacity-building activities such as business plan development, expanding products and services, skills development, and hiring. Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting Community Service Organizations

A majority of the workers in the charity and non-profit sector are women. This sector has been significantly affected by the pandemic, causing further impacts on the she-cession. The effects have been especially significant for small and rural charities, whose ability to raise funds has been severely impacted even as the pressures for their services have grown.

Recent research from Imagine Canada suggests that as of late 2020, the average charity has reported a revenue decline of 16 per cent. Since the pandemic began, community service non-profit and charitable organizations have struggled to provide the fitness, children’s programs, seniors programs, and community building projects that Canadians rely on. These organizations have not been able to easily adapt and transition to remote work and online programming, which has made it hard for workers and left a gap in our communities, at a time when demand is higher.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $400 million in 2021-22 to Employment and Social Development Canada to create a temporary Community Services Recovery Fund to help charities and non-profits adapt and modernize so they can better support the economic recovery in our communities. Gender-Based Analysis+

Boosting Charitable Spending in Our Communities

Every year, charities are required to spend a minimum amount on their charitable programs or on gifts to qualified donees. This is known as the “disbursement quota” and it ensures that charitable donations are being invested into our communities.

While most charities meet or exceed their disbursement quotas, a gap of at least $1 billion in charitable expenditures in our communities exists today. Furthermore, growth in the investment assets of foundations has increased significantly in recent years. In 2019, charitable foundations held over $85 billion in long-term investments. But grant-making and other charitable activities have not kept pace.



• Budget 2021 proposes launching public consultations with charities over the coming months on potentially increasing the disbursement quota and updating the tools at the Canada Revenue Agency’s disposal, beginning in 2022. This could potentially increase support for the charitable sector and those that rely on its services by between $1 billion and $2 billion annually. Gender-Based Analysis+

Consulting on a New Canadian Social Bond

Social bonds are an opportunity to connect socially conscious investors with Government of Canada bonds that support social objectives such as reducing homelessness and improving access to high-quality early learning and child care.

• Budget 2021 proposes to explore the potential for social bonds to complement the government’s existing debt program. The government intends to include this topic as part of the Debt Management Strategy consultations this fall. Gender-Based Analysis+

Improving Food Security

At the height of lockdowns last spring, one in seven Canadians experienced food insecurity. Food Banks Canada reported a significant increase in use of food banks, especially among first-time users. The federal government responded quickly, investing nearly $250 million to support local hunger relief initiatives.

Although things have improved, food bank lineups are still long, community food organizations are working long hours, and more than a third of those who rely on food banks are children. In Canada, no one should need to go hungry. To provide continued support to emergency hunger relief organizations:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $140 million in 2021-22 to top up the Emergency Food Security Fund and Local Food Infrastructure Fund, which would prevent hunger, strengthen food security in our communities, and provide nutritious food to more Canadians.  Gender-Based Analysis+

6.4 Jobs and Growth Through Infrastructure Investments

Public transit, bridges, roads, broadband networks, electricity grids, recreational centres, bike paths, and more are central to the daily life of every Canadian. Infrastructure is what keeps people moving and what keeps our economy growing.

The government has accomplished a great deal in building and renewing Canada’s major infrastructure since 2016. But more needs to be done to build up our communities and ensure our economy has the 21st century infrastructure we need to be competitive.

Budget 2021 lays out the government’s plan to revitalize Canada’s infrastructure, to invest in community priorities, and to build projects that contribute to a clean environment and create good middle class jobs.

Permanent Public Transit Fund

Reliable and accessible public transit gives people faster, cheaper, and cleaner ways of getting around. Investing in it today will create good middle class jobs, reduce air pollution, help local economies grow, and improve Canadians’ quality of life.

On February 10, 2021, the government announced $14.9 billion over eight years, starting in 2021-22, for public transit projects across Canada. This included new permanent funding of $3 billion per year for communities across Canada, beginning in 2026-27.

This funding will support new subway lines, light-rail transit and streetcars, electric buses, active transportation infrastructure, and improved rural transit, which will create affordable commuting options in communities and reduce Canada’s emissions. It will also provide local governments with the predictable transit funding they need to plan ahead so Canada can keep building more sustainable and livable communities. 

Public transit drives productivity, reducing congestion that frees up time for commuters and improves the flow of goods and services through our communities.



Canada Community-Building Fund

Core infrastructure like roads, bridges, community centres, and water and wastewater plants are the backbone of communities. There is a risk that projects could face delays or even cancellations as local governments across Canada confront the realities of revenue declines due to COVID-19.

To help communities keep infrastructure projects on track, the government tabled legislation on March 25, 2021, that proposes a one-time investment of $2.2 billion to address infrastructure priorities in municipalities and First Nations communities. This funding would be delivered through the federal Gas Tax Fund and would double the federal government’s regular funding for municipalities and First Nations communities in 2020-21. The legislation also proposes to rename the Gas Tax Fund as the Canada Community-Building Fund.

This support would create good local jobs, support municipalities, and build the infrastructure our communities need to thrive and recover.

National Infrastructure Assessment

Twenty-first century energy systems, public buildings, broadband networks, roadways, public transit, and natural spaces all contribute to our long-term economic productivity and prosperity. But smart, resilient public infrastructure projects also require careful planning. To support Canada’s long-term infrastructure planning:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $22.6 million over four years, starting in 2021-22, to Infrastructure Canada to conduct Canada’s first ever National Infrastructure Assessment. The assessment would help identify needs and priorities for Canada’s built environment. Gender-Based Analysis+

This measure would improve infrastructure planning and help all orders of government make informed decisions about infrastructure projects that ensure we have stronger, cleaner, more resilient communities.

Next Step Towards High Frequency Rail in the Toronto-Quebec City Corridor

High frequency rail has the potential to transform passenger rail service in the Toronto-Quebec City corridor, offering faster, more reliable service, and helping to encourage the shift to rail from more polluting modes of transportation.

In 2019, the Government of Canada established a Joint Project Office to explore VIA Rail Canada’s high frequency rail project. This effort is critical to making this project a reality for Canadians. 

• To continue this work, Budget 2021 proposes to provide $4.4 million in 2021-22 to Transport Canada and VIA Rail Canada to support their work with the Joint Project Office in order to advance due diligence and to de-risk the project. Gender-Based Analysis+
• In addition, Budget 2021 proposes to provide $491.2 million over six years, starting in 2021-22, to VIA Rail Canada for infrastructure investments that would support the overall success of the high frequency rail project. These investments will help reduce bottlenecks, improve fluidity and connectivity, and allow VIA to take an important step towards high frequency rail in the corridor.   Gender-Based Analysis+

Assisting Homeowners Affected by Pyrrhotite

Some homes in certain regions of Quebec have had serious and costly structural problems as a result of the presence of the mineral pyrrhotite in their foundations. In response, the Government of Quebec has provided significant financial support to affected homeowners to replace foundations and undertake other necessary repairs.

To help more homeowners dealing with the consequences of pyrrhotite, the Government of Canada provided $30 million over three years in Budget 2016. Quebec recently announced an additional $25.7 million in its 2021 budget. The Government of Canada recognizes that an additional federal contribution might be needed. The Government of Canada will engage with Quebec to determine the appropriate amount. Details will be provided in the Fall Economic Statement.

Bonaventure Expressway

For nearly 20 years, the City of Montréal has envisioned converting the Bonaventure Expressway into an urban boulevard and restoring public access to the St. Lawrence River. A portion of the expressway is owned by the city and the other by Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated, a federal Crown corporation. Montréal has already upgraded its portion of the Bonaventure Expressway to increase local green space for pedestrians and cyclists.

• Through Budget 2021, the government is announcing its intention to work with the City of Montréal to redevelop the Bonaventure Expressway, including exploring the merits of divesting the federal portion of the Bonaventure Expressway. Gender-Based Analysis+

Local ownership could provide more flexibility for the city to complete the redevelopment and revitalization of the area.

Canada’s National Capital Region

The National Capital Region (NCR) is home to some of the most significant cultural and heritage assets in Canada. To ensure that federal assets and related programs in the NCR continue to be safe and accessible for all Canadians:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $35 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, to the National Capital Commission to support the acquisition and upkeep of federal assets, green infrastructure, and spaces in the National Capital Region. Gender-Based Analysis+

Interprovincial bridge crossings serve as important connections in the nation’s capital. Building on the work of the long-term integrated interprovincial crossing plan led by the National Capital Commission, a dedicated project office responsible for addressing the need for an additional NCR crossing will be established at Public Services and Procurement Canada, jointly with the National Capital Commission.

Further recognizing the importance of interprovincial transit, and building on the National Capital Commission’s recent feasibility study:

• Budget 2021 proposes to create an interprovincial transit project office within the National Capital Commission. The project office will work to study and plan for potential interprovincial tramway connections between Ottawa and Gatineau, in addition to consulting and collaborating with municipal, provincial, and transportation partners. Gender-Based Analysis+

6.5 Local and Regional Development

To support recovery and long-term growth, the government is committed to supporting economic development in communities of every size, helping small and medium-sized businesses access financing, and investing in the local infrastructure that helps communities grow. 

Supporting Jobs and Growth in All Communities

As Canada builds back better, no community will be left behind. From the outset of the pandemic, regional development agencies have been on the ground across Canada, helping businesses weather the effects of the pandemic. Through the $2 billion Regional Relief and Recovery Fund, they have been providing liquidity to businesses, helping bridge them to the recovery, and preserving more than 125,000 jobs. To ensure businesses in every corner of Canada have the support they need to get through the pandemic and that they are brought along in our economic recovery:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $700 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, for the regional development agencies to support business financing. This would position local economies for long-term growth by transitioning to a green economy, fostering an inclusive recovery, enhancing competitiveness, and creating jobs in every corner of the country. Gender-Based Analysis+
• Furthermore, the federal government will work to make FedNor a standalone regional development agency and strengthen the economic development of Northern Ontario. Gender-Based Analysis+

On the Ground: Partnering on Regional Priorities—East Montreal

East Montreal has a long history of industrial activity, and work is underway to revitalize the area for the economy of tomorrow. The area has the potential to be an anchor for innovative research and new and growing businesses.

The government remains supportive of new approaches to foster innovation, help businesses grow, and create new jobs, and will explore how it can potentially partner to best support development opportunities for Canadians in all regions, including in East Montreal.

Creating a New Regional Development Agency for British Columbia

In recognition of the unique economic realities in British Columbia and across Western Canada, the government committed, in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, to create a new regional economic development agency for British Columbia with new dedicated funding. This will help businesses and communities in British Columbia continue to grow and create good jobs across the province. It will also ensure Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have a dedicated regional development agency that keeps the same level of funding to serve their distinct regional needs, with resources to dedicate to local populations and businesses.

To increase the impact of regional development agencies in Western Canada:

• Budget 2021 proposes to create a new agency for British Columbia and to provide $553.1 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $110.6 million ongoing, to support the new agency and ensure businesses in B.C. can grow and create good jobs for British Columbians. Existing core program funding from Western Economic Diversification will remain to support the Prairies, making additional support available for businesses in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Gender-Based Analysis+

Canada Community Revitalization Fund

Main streets, farmers' markets, and other gathering places underpin local economies. In many communities, the most vibrant spaces in our communities have laid dormant as Canadians took precautions to stay safe. Recognizing that economic recovery is tightly linked to the vitality of our local communities:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $500 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to the regional development agencies for community infrastructure. These projects will stimulate local economies, create jobs, and improve the quality of life for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Gender-Based Analysis+

Investing in Small Craft Harbours

From coast to coast to coast, Fisheries and Oceans Canada owns, operates, and maintains a national system of harbours to provide commercial fish harvesters and other small craft harbour users with safe and accessible facilities. Ninety per cent of Canadian seafood goes through small craft harbours and Canada’s fish harvesters depend on these facilities to support their livelihoods.

Many harbours are in need of repair or replacement, and this work can support good middle class jobs in rural and coastal communities.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $300 million, on a cash basis, over the next two years, to Fisheries and Oceans Canada to repair, renew, and replace small craft harbours. This would support Canadians in the fishing, aquaculture, tourism, environmental, recreational, marine engineering, and construction industries, and strengthen the resilience of rural and coastal communities. Gender-Based Analysis+

6.6 Rural and Northern Communities

Canada’s vibrant rural and northern communities face unique challenges to their economic growth and resilience. To support these rural communities, Budget 2021 proposes to expand support for farmers and agricultural producers. Additional support is proposed for the North, which faces unique challenges related to food security, climate change, and access to post-secondary education. It also proposes making investments to continue to increase broadband connectivity, as detailed in Chapter 4. These efforts would strengthen economic foundations and support opportunities for Canadians in rural and northern communities from coast to coast to coast.

Extending the Northern Residents Deduction

The remote nature of many northern communities makes travel, even essential travel for school or medical care, unaffordable for many. The Northern Residents Deduction only provides tax relief to those who already receive travel benefits through work. To reduce travel costs for northerners:

• Budget 2021 proposes to expand access to the travel component of the Northern Residents Deduction. Gender-Based Analysis+
  • Northerners without employer-provided travel benefits would be allowed to claim up to $1,200 in eligible travel expenses. This measure would take effect starting with the 2021 tax year.
  • The Minister of Northern Affairs will work with the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, who is the Minister responsible for the Competition Bureau, to ensure that these savings are for the benefit of citizens in the North rather than transportation providers.

It is estimated that this measure will reduce federal revenues by $125 million over five years starting in 2021-22.

Supporting Post-secondary Education in the North

People in Canada’s North face longstanding inequities in education, which puts northern residents at a disadvantage, especially Indigenous peoples. Closing gaps in education improves health and well-being, and spurs economic growth and innovation. Building on investments in Budget 2019 for Yukon College, and to further increase access to quality post-secondary education in Canada’s North:

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $8 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to the Government of the Northwest Territories to support the transformation of Aurora College to a polytechnic university. This would help create new opportunities in the Northwest Territories and prepare northerners for good jobs. Gender-Based Analysis+

Ensuring Food Security in the North

In Canada’s North, food prices can be significantly higher than what the rest of the country pays. Additional factors such as isolation and socioeconomic challenges make northerners particularly vulnerable to food insecurity—vulnerabilities that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $163.4 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to expand the Nutrition North Canada program and enable the Minister of Northern Affairs to work directly with Indigenous partners, including in Inuit Nunangat, to address food insecurity. Gender-Based Analysis+

Support for Jobs in the Canadian Wine Sector

The growth of the Canadian wine sector over the last 15 years has been a success story of Canada’s agri-food sector. It has also provided growth opportunities for grape growers and tourism businesses.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $101 million over two years, starting in 2022-23, to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, to implement a program for the wine sector that will support wineries in adapting to ongoing and emerging challenges, in line with Canada’s trade obligations. The government will continue to be there for Canada’s domestic wine industry and the jobs it supports. Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting Food Processors Following Ratification of New Trade Agreements

Canada now has trade agreements with two-thirds of the world’s economy. And Canada is the only G7 country to have trade agreements with every other G7 country. This means that Canadian businesses are well-positioned to take full advantage of the global recovery.

Since 2016, $2.7 billion has been made available to compensate eligible dairy, poultry, and egg farmers as a result of CETA and CPTPP. A further $100 million has been provided for dairy processors to adapt to CETA. To date, all import rights created in recent trade agreements have been provisionally allocated to the industry free of charge.

• To help processors of all supply-managed agricultural products adapt to CETA and CPTPP, Budget 2021 proposes a further $292.5 million over seven years, starting in 2021-22, for a Processor Investment Fund to support private investment in processing plants. Gender-Based Analysis+

These investments are in addition to the accelerated compensation announced in the Fall Economic Statement for producers of supply-managed products. The Government of Canada is committed to full and fair compensation with respect to the new NAFTA and it will work with representatives of the supply-managed sectors in determining that compensation.

6.7 Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System

Diversity is our strength, including as a source of our economic strength. Net immigration contributed to half of Canada’s average GDP growth from 2016 to 2019, and nearly three quarters of its growth in 2019.

As our workforce ages, immigration ensures the Canadian economy continues to grow, that we attract more top talent and investment capital, and that we continue to create good jobs. Welcoming immigrants is an important part of Canada’s recovery.

A well-functioning immigration plan also enriches our communities, reunites families, and provides protection to asylum seekers and refugees.

Budget 2021 puts forward proposals that would ensure Canada stays competitive with its international partners and is prepared to take advantage of the resumption and growth in global travel, post-pandemic. The federal government also recognizes that Quebec shares responsibility for immigration and that certain initiatives will not apply to applicants seeking to reside in Quebec.

Delivering a Modern Immigration Platform

The digital infrastructure that supports Canada’s immigration system must be responsive and sustainable to ensure public confidence and support growing visitor, immigration, and refugee levels. A secure, stable, and flexible enterprise-wide digital platform that protects people’s information will improve application processing and help Canada remain a destination of choice.

• Budget 2021 proposes to invest $428.9 million over five years, with $398.5 million in remaining amortization, starting in 2021-22, to develop and deliver an enterprise-wide digital platform that would gradually replace the legacy Global Case Management System. This will enable improved application processing and support for applicants, beginning in 2023. Gender-Based Analysis+

Enhancing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program

For over 50 years, temporary foreign workers have been coming to Canada to help meet the needs of businesses. Recently, the pandemic has highlighted the critical role that these workers—the vast majority of whom are racialized and precariously employed—play in Canada’s economy, particularly at the farms that feed Canada and the world.

To build on recent actions taken in 2020 to support temporary foreign workers affected by COVID-19, the Government of Canada will continue to protect our most vulnerable and isolated workers, ensuring their health, safety, and quality of life are protected while working in Canada. To this end, Budget 2021 proposes to provide:

• $49.5 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Employment and Social Development Canada, to support community-based organizations in the provision of migrant worker-centric programs and services, such as on-arrival orientation services and assistance in emergency and at-risk situations, through the new Migrant Worker Support Program. Gender-Based Analysis+
• $54.9 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Employment and Social Development Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, to increase inspections of employers and ensure temporary foreign workers have appropriate working conditions and wages. Gender-Based Analysis+
• $6.3 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, to support faster processing and improved service delivery of open work permits for vulnerable workers, which helps migrant workers in situations of abuse find a new job. The government has zero tolerance for any abuse of workers. Gender-Based Analysis+

Supporting Racialized Newcomer Women

Many newcomer women face multiple barriers to employment, including language, lack of Canadian experience, and in some cases gender- and race-based discrimination. In Budget 2018, the Government of Canada launched a three-year pilot to support employment-related services for racialized newcomer women, such as networking opportunities, employment counselling, and paid work placements.

• Budget 2021 proposes to provide $15 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to extend the Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot initiative, which will continue to improve their employment outcomes and career advancement. Gender-Based Analysis+

Accelerated Pathways to Permanent Residence

Canada’s immigration system is critical to supporting the economic recovery. That is why the Government of Canada recently announced the introduction of time-limited pathways to permanent residence for foreign nationals already in Canada. This includes recent international graduates and workers in essential occupations, such as health care or other critical sectors. These pathways would not only help retain the talent of those already in Canada, but would also recognize the significant contribution to Canada—and personal sacrifice—these workers have made during the pandemic. In Quebec, which shares responsibility for immigration, this initiative will not apply.  

Streamlining Express Entry

Canada’s Express Entry system has been in place since 2015. It has a track record of bringing in highly skilled immigrants who succeed in Canada’s economy and society. These newcomers fill needs in our economy that are critical for our growth and create shared prosperity for all. Streamlining Canada’s Express Entry system will allow the government to ensure our immigration system responds to Canada’s growing economic and labour force needs and help Canada reach its 2021-2023 Immigration Levels Plan.

• The Government of Canada intends to propose amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to provide the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada with authority to use Ministerial Instructions to help select those candidates who best meet Canada’s labour market needs from among the growing pool of candidates who wish to become permanent residents through the Express Entry System. Gender-Based Analysis+

Chapter 6
Strengthening the Cities and Communities We Call Home
millions of dollars

	2020- 2021	2021– 2022	2022- 2023	2023- 2024	2024- 2025	2025- 2026	Total
6.1. A Place to Call Home	0	1,770	730	454	51	51	3,056
More Affordable Housing	0	1,770	421	151	51	51	2,444
Ending Homelessness	0	0	309	303	0	0	612
6.2. Restoring Tourism, Arts, Culture, and Sport	0	898	863	123	6	6	1,896
Revitalizing Tourism	0	425	560	15	0	0	1,000
Supporting Canada's Active Recovery	0	40	40	0	0	0	80
Supporting Canada’s Arts, Heritage, and Cultural Workers and Institutions	0	241	186	32	0	0	458
Supporting Canadian TV and Film Productions Through COVID-191	0	100	0	0	0	0	100
Investing in Telefilm Canada	0	20	35	50	0	0	105
Encouraging Diverse Voices in Canadian TV and Film	0	20	20	20	0	0	60
Support for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation / Radio-Canada	0	21	0	0	0	0	21
Support for the Canadian Book Industry	0	23	16	0	0	0	39
Protecting Canada’s Historic Places	0	8	11	10	10	10	50
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	-4	-4	-4	-4	-4	-22
Memorial to the Victims of Communism	0	4	0	0	0	0	4
6.3. Building Stronger Communities	-17	665	124	49	50	51	921
Helping Charities, Non-profits, and Social Purpose Organizations Grow2	0	142	141	66	67	68	483
Less: Funds Previously Provisioned in the Fiscal Framework	-8	-17	-17	-17	-17	-17	-93
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	-9	0	0	0	0	0	-9
Supporting Community Service Organizations	0	400	0	0	0	0	400
Improving Food Security	0	140	0	0	0	0	140
6.4. Jobs and Growth through Infrastructure Investments	2,200	350	653	1,087	1,615	2,690	8,595
Permanent Public Transit Fund1	0	328	572	954	1,492	2,596	5,941
Canada Community-Building Fund3	2,200	0	0	0	0	0	2,200
National Infrastructure Assessment	0	4	6	6	6	0	23
Next Step Towards High Frequency Rail in the Toronto-Quebec City Corridor	0	12	68	120	110	86	396
Canada’s National Capital Region	0	7	7	7	7	7	35
6.5. Local and Regional Development	0	514	497	122	68	68	1,270
Supporting Jobs and Growth in All Communities	0	162	144	54	0	0	361
Creating a New Regional Development Agency for British Columbia	0	64	64	64	64	64	320
Canada Community Revitalization Fund	0	250	250	0	0	0	500
Investing in Small Craft Harbours	0	37	39	4	4	4	89
6.6. Rural and Northern Communities	0	85	142	212	89	87	615
Extending the Northern Residents Deduction	0	26	26	26	26	26	128
Supporting Post-secondary Education in the North	0	5	3	0	0	0	8
Ensuring Food Security in the North	0	53	55	56	0	0	163
Support for Jobs in the Canadian Wine Sector	0	0	35	66	0	0	101
Supporting Food Processors Following Ratification of New Trade Agreements	0	1	24	64	64	64	217
Less: Funds Previously Provisioned in the Fiscal Framework	0	0	0	0	0	-2	-2
6.7. Strengthening Canada's Immigration System	0	86	142	131	97	98	555
Delivering a Modern Immigration Platform	0	53	90	90	97	98	429
Enhancing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program	0	29	42	41	0	0	111
Supporting Racialized Newcomer Women	0	4	11	0	0	0	15
Additional Investments – Strengthening the Cities and Communities We Call Home	0	222	115	79	29	15	459
Enhancing Immigration Service and Support	0	25	25	25	0	0	74
Funding proposed for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to maintain enhanced capacity and service standards within the Client Support Center – ensuring timely support by phone and email for inquiries related to the suite of services offered by the department, particularly permanent resident applications.
Support for National Museums and the National Battlefields Commission	0	47	6	4	4	4	66
Funding proposed for Canada’s six national museums and the National Battlefields Commission to address financial pressures caused by COVID-19 and program integrity issues. Funding is also proposed for the RCMP Heritage Centre as it begins the process of transitioning to a new national museum, and to support the completion of the National Museum of Science and Technology’s Ingenium Centre. Finally, funding is proposed for the Canadian Museum of History to support the purchase of the collection of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Enhancing Digital Access to our Heritage	0	5	8	10	0	0	23
Funding proposed for Canadian Heritage’s Museums Assistance Program to support the digitization of information and collections by non-national museums and heritage institutions, which will allow these institutions to create original content such as educational materials, apps or other virtual activities to enhance the visitor experience.
Funding for the National Film Board	0	5	0	0	0	0	5
Funding proposed for the National Film Board to address immediate funding pressures, and ensure that it can continue its production and distribution activities and maintain its capital investments.
Maintaining Temporary Resident Processing Capacity	0	29	0	0	0	0	29
Funding proposed for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency to maintain enhanced capacity to serve visitors applying for temporary resident visas and permits.
Granville Island Emergency Relief Fund Extension	0	22	0	0	0	0	22
Funding proposed for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to extend emergency relief for Granville Island to sustain its operations in 2021-2022. This would allow Granville Island to support its tenants, many of whom are small businesses and non-profit arts and cultural venues, who continue to face significant economic duress from COVID-19.
Continuing the Remote Passenger Rail Program	0	14	14	15	0	0	43
Funding proposed for Transport Canada to continue the Remote Passenger Rail Program, which supports the provision of passenger rail service to certain remote communities with no alternative means of surface transportation.
Continuing Support for Critical Food Inspection	0	20	0	0	0	0	20
Funding proposed for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to retain inspectors hired in response to COVID-19 related inspection backlogs while pandemic related risks in food processing facilities persist.
Maintaining Daily Shift Inspections	0	16	16	0	0	0	33
Funding proposed for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to maintain daily shift inspections of meat processing plants to allow Canadian meat processors to continue to export meat to the United States and build consumer confidence in the Canadian meat sector.
Ensuring Food Safety	0	16	16	0	0	0	31
Funding proposed for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to retain staff that enable the Agency to improve food safety by improving risk and intelligence oversight, conducting offshore preventive activities and improving stakeholder compliance.
Extending Emergency Towing Leases	0	11	28	28	28	15	109
Less: Funds Sourced From Existing Departmental Resources	0	-6	0	0	0	0	-6
Funding proposed for the Canadian Coast Guard to extend emergency towing lease arrangements to provide continued capacity on the West Coast while comprehensive risk assessment work is underway and a National Emergency Towing Strategy is developed.
Supporting Clean Technology Adoption in Fisheries and Aquaculture	0	5	5	0	0	0	10
Funding proposed for Fisheries and Oceans Canada to renew the Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Adoption Program to assist fish harvesters and aquaculture enterprises to adopt innovative clean technologies.
Chapter 6 - Net Fiscal Impact	2,183	4,577	3,269	2,260	2,008	3,070	17,367
Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding. 1 Announced in February 2021. 2 The Social Finance Fund will continue to operate on a repayable basis, but the funding instrument will be conditionally (rather than unconditionally) repayable contributions. Under accounting rules, conditionally repayable contributions are recognized as they are disbursed, such that the full cash cost is recognized upfront. For the Social Finance Fund, this represents an incremental impact of $559.6 million. 3 Announced in March 2021.

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Date modified:

2021-04-19