The Best #NewThinking from Budget 2016
Prime Minister Trudeau Puts Our Money Where His Mouth Is
Tuesday marked the submission of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first budget in office, built around the promise to use a deficit to invest in infrastructure and grow a cleaner Canadian economy. How do the numbers in the new budget reflect these aims? And how do they stack up against Smart Prosperity’s 5 Big Ideas? Let’s take a look at a few of the government’s key commitments within the context of the Smart Prosperity Roadmap.
Action 1: Accelerate Clean Innovation and Technology
The government recognizes the need to stimulate innovation and clean-tech development in Canada and has allocated more than $130 million over 5 years to support clean tech research, development, and demonstration. Additionally, the budget aims to strengthen the drive for innovation with $800 million over four years starting in 2017 to support innovation networks and clusters, and an additional $95 million per year for granting councils to fund research.
Action 2: Boost Energy and Resource Efficiency
Improving resource and energy efficiency- doing more with less — occurs in a variety of ways, including through clean innovation and technology. In addition to the previously mentioned commitments, the 2016 budget allocates more than $1 billion over four years to support clean tech investments, including in forestry, fisheries, mining, energy, and agriculture sectors, as well as $128.8 million over five years to Natural Resources Canada to deliver energy efficiency policies and programs.
Action 3: Price Pollution and Waste
While the working groups and many other thinkers in the field (including Smart Prosperity) are working to inform the anticipated pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, the framework will be supported with more than $1 billion over the next two years.
While steps are being taken on pricing carbon, the government has quietly left the pace of phasing-out fossil fuel subsidies unchanged from the previous government, despite election promises to accelerate it.
The Government has announced other funding to reduce pollution and waste; perhaps most notably with $2 billion over two years to establish a Low Carbon Economy Fund that will support provincial and territorial actions that materially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and are incremental to current plans, as well as $345.5 million over five years to Environment and Climate Change Canada, Health Canada and the National Research Council to take action to address air pollution.
Action 4: Invest in Advanced Infrastructure and Skills
A key focus of the 2016 budget, investment in green infrastructure (defined as infrastructure that protects communities and supports Canada’s ongoing transition to a clean growth economy) totals more than $5 billion over five years including:
- $2 billion over two years to a new Clean Water and Wastewater Fund for provinces, territories, and municipalities to support improvements to water distribution and treatment infrastructure
- $518 million for local governments to strengthen their infrastructure to withstand the impacts of climate change
- $125 million over the next two years to enhance the Green Municipal Fund started with Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) in 2000, as well as an additional $75 million to support municipal projects to address climate change to be delivered by the FCM
- $63 million over two years to support alternative fuel vehicles
A crucial element of both their election platform and the 2016 budget, the government believes we need to invest in green infrastructure now or risk failing to capitalize on major opportunities as the world moves toward to a cleaner, more sustainable economy — Smart Prosperity agrees. Stay tuned for a piece by Smart Prosperity on how we can best utilize these investments.
Action 5: Conserve and Value Nature
The budget commits $142.3 million over five years to add new national parks (perhaps as part of Canada’s previous commitment to expand marine conservation five-fold?) and enhance programming as well as improving Canadian’s access to them, notably by cancelling admission fees to National Parks during the 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017.
Additionally, $197.1 million has been allocated over five years to Fisheries and Oceans Canada to increase ocean and freshwater science monitoring and research activities and to provide support for the Experimental Lakes Area in Northwestern Ontario.
Will This Get Us to Smart Prosperity?
Prime Minister Trudeau has put our money where his mouth is, with the funding allocated to pursue a cleaner, more sustainable Canadian economy. However, as with the successful implementation of any policy or program, the devil is in the details — and that is sure to be the case for the effective implementation of the plans put forth in this budget. In 2010, Prime Minister Harper’s climate change plans included more than $9 billion in allocated funding, while we remain far from on track to achieve our GHG reduction targets.
The best way to measure the success of this budget will be on its implementation. It took #NewThinking to develop this budget; it will take even more to bring it to life. Here at Smart Prosperity, we’re ready to harness the best research in the country and diverse perspectives to help do just that. Stay tuned.
Smart Prosperity is a new Canadian initiative aimed to build a stronger and cleaner economy, backed by a broad group of Canadian leaders from across the economy and all parts of civil society.
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