Federal Budget to Address Gender Pay Gap

But won't matter much if we don't keep jobs in Canada - Brassard

The Federal Government handed down a budget geared towards women and science. Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau released the budget today. The budget includes steps to create a National Housing Strategy to address a fluctuating market. Morneau says the budget allows for an advisory council to look at establishing a national pharmacare plan but doesn’t detail the costs or timeline associated with it. The budget does not address the national deficit, now expected to persist until 2023. There are measures to support women in the workplace and gender pay equity, but Barrie Innisfil MP John Brassard says they don’t matter much if the government is not doing something to keep jobs in Canada…

Other budget highlights include:

  • An additional $172.6m in spending over 3 years for clean drinking water on reserves.
  • First Nations Child and Family Services to receive an additional $1.3b over six years.
  • $50m over five years to support local independent journalism.
  • $30m over three years to support women and girls’ participation in sports.
  • Ten million towards an RCMP unit to investigate over 25,000 cases of “unfounded” sexual assaults
  • free admission for children into Canada’s national parks.