September 26 2023

Last month, the Alternative Federal Budget (AFB) for 2024 was released. What it shows is that the federal government has the ability to fix the health care and housing crises facing Canadians. But to be able to do that, the federal government must get serious about tax fairness.

Increased federal funding needed to fix health care, but conditions needed

The AFB shows how our public health care system can provide the level of care that Canadians need. Some of this is through additional funding for specific needs. The AFB suggests that $3.5 billion should be spent on the first step towards a universal, publicly delivered pharmacare program and that $3.2 billion to be allocated to help end the health care human resources crisis.

Equally important is putting conditions on federal funding for health care so that money goes towards front line services, not lining the pockets of for-profit health care corporations. As the AFB points out, when health care services are privatized the cost of medical procedures can more than double. In addition to putting conditions on federal funding for health care, the AFB proposes better enforcement of the principles and conditions of the Canada Health Act.

Building homes people can afford

The reason many people are struggling to find a home they can afford is that for many years housing has been viewed as an investment rather than places to live. When large numbers of new homes are bought up by investors – in Ontario, for example, multiple property owners own 31% of residential properties – just building more homes won’t solve the crisis.

Nor will relying on the private sector. Much of the funding through the National Housing Strategy (NHS) has gone towards loans for for-profit developers, but less than one-third of the NHS units are affordable.

What the AFB makes clear is that the federal government can do better. Among the measures included in the AFB is allocating $20 billion a year so one million non-market and co-op housing units can be built over the next 10 years. Unlike units built by for-profit developers, where the rents get jacked up as soon, they can get away with it, non-market and co-op units stay affordable. While for-profit developers would still be eligible for loans for affordable housing under the AFB proposals, the rules would be tightened up.

Fair taxation key to solving crises – and addressing problems like inequality

During the pandemic, while many Canadians were making huge sacrifices, large corporations and the wealthy got richer than ever. They were helped by the fact that in spite of a lot of tough talk from successive finance ministers, we are only starting to see some limited steps towards making the tax system fairer.

Measures in the AFB would make the tax system fairer and give the federal government the resources needed to deal with crises like health, housing and climate change. These include a wealth tax, reversing cuts to the corporate income tax rate and closing loopholes that disproportionately benefit the wealthy.

It can be done

Two lines we here far too often from politicians many who are “we can’t afford it” and “we’re doing all we can.” What the AFB shows is we can afford – if we want to – and there’s a lot more we can do.