Building Canada together: a call for shared prosperity

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This article was published 18/10/2024 (393 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Almost every home in Canada has been impacted by the affordability crisis.

Many of us are struggling to keep a roof over our heads and food on our tables.

And while the world insists on moving on, some of us have never recovered from the pandemic, and too many remain uncertain about the future.

We learned two major lessons from the pandemic.

First — we found that even in hard times, corporations will not hesitate to take wealth and well-being from our communities to increase their profits.

Second — we found that we can keep each other healthy when we take care together, we can save jobs and business through targeted public spending, and we can win public programs like dental care and pharmacare when we set goals together. Our collective effort in a time of crisis showed that this country is far from “broken.”

But conservative politicians want you to believe otherwise. They offer empty promises and seek to distract us by creating “enemies.”

Instead of solving people’s real problems, they want to divide our communities, undermine our democracy and weaken the public services that we rely on. Instead of long-term solutions, they offer tax cuts.

But tax cuts won’t shorten the wait times in the emergency room, won’t help kids succeed in school, and won’t help care for an aging parent. Tax cuts will only enrich the wealthiest one per cent while undermining our hard-won public services.

Canadians have a better alternative — built on a vision of shared values and prosperity for all.

We can choose to build Canada’s future on a foundation of good-paying jobs and strong public services that supports every family and every community.

We can ensure that everyone has access to primary medical care; take steps to stop price gouging on rents or food; build resilient communities that can withstand extreme weather events; and repair the social safety net that helps those in need.

For everyone who is struggling to put a roof over their heads, we can apply measures from the past that acted to curb speculation and outlaw rent-gouging, and boldly recreate the programs that built permanently affordable non-market housing.

For those who are aging, we can make sure there are long-term care options run for people’s needs, not for profit.

For young families, we can invest in affordable, quality child care and early child education in every community.

For workers in any sector of the economy, we can make it easier to gain a collective voice at work and bring in rules to make sure people aren’t exploited or disrespected.

We can insist our country commit to global efforts for peace and human rights and assert our right to credible news and information so we can make informed decisions.

We can protect clean water as a human right; and embrace equality and reconciliation as essential steps in our journey together.

We can have public transit that provides dependable service for every community.

We can adopt industrial strategies that ensure young workers will have good careers producing sustainable goods and services. We can dramatically expand clean energy and energy efficiency programs while ending subsidies to fossil fuel monopolies.

We can prepare Canada to succeed in the high-tech and sustainable economy of the future, while tackling climate change.

We can make these choices now, because failing to take action now means we will pay much more later.

If the wealthy paid their fair share in taxes, there would be more than enough money for all of this and more.

But it’s not just about money. It’s also about how they influence political decision-making at all levels of government. When conservative politicians rage about taxes and public spending, it’s because their corporate donors want to take more profits, regardless of the consequences for the rest of us.

It’s time to take this on.

Canadians can’t afford to leave the political terrain open to U.S.-style campaigns riding on destructive anger. The crisis in living standards won’t be overcome by austerity or tax cuts — it can only be solved with investment, inclusion, and community.

It’s time to rebuild trust in each other and our society, and our capacity to work together for a better world.

Let’s all step up and be part of shaping the future we want.

John Cartwright is the chairperson of the Council of Canadians.