10 Things to Look For in Canada’s COVID-19 Recovery Plans
PM Justin Trudeau has prorogued parliament promising to come back with a plan to “build back better” an “equitable green economy”. The Throne Speech on Sep 23 requires another political party’s vote to pass, or an election will be triggered. The NDP will likely vote in favour in return for concessions. These negotiations are not taking place in public. That makes no sense! We all need to be part of discussing what the post-COVID19 world looks like.
Proposals on this should be made by social movements, unions, policy leaders, political parties, and be debated on mainstream and social media. But we hear nothing. PM Trudeau expects to just get a mandate he didn’t campaign for, in a new reality none of us anticipated last October. Our future cannot be left to backroom negotiations. Campaigning publicly makes sense for social movements, and political parties — it allows us to see what ideas are good, expand membership, and as a result win more for all of us (a longer blog post with more thoughts on this here).
With so little time, it is crucial that we don’t reinvent the wheel. There are incredible ideas being debated and fought for in public, and on the streets. COVID-19 has exacerbated and revealed existing failures of our systems, and effective solutions have been proposed. I’m gathering here 10 federal, winnable demands that social movements have arrived at that can serve as a yardstick to measure plans and proposals by all political parties. I didn’t come up with any of them, and there is already immense traction and support for each. I offer this compilation as a starting point — much more must be done. Disagreements are welcome and invited, the point is to debate our future with each other instead of waiting till September 23rd. All political parties are invited to take this plan in whole and campaign for it. Many millions are behind these ideas already.
It’s also crucial that right now, the focus must be for all of us to act. Each one of these demands have campaigns underway, protests planned, and meetings organized. Find them, join them. We will only win what we fight for.
10 Demands for COVID-19 Recovery
(1) Black Lives Matter: Defund and demilitarize the police (RCMP, CSIS, CBSA), remove police from mental health responses and invest in alternative approaches to safety and security for all.
(2) Housing is a Right: No evictions, fully fund social housing for all
(3) Income Support & Decent Work: Jobs guarantee, higher minimum wage, paid sick days. Permanently reform EI, OAS, federal recovery benefits to ensure $500/week minimum income for all.
(4) Just Recovery: At least 65% emissions reductions by 2030; no pipelines, just transition to a green economy
(5) Land Back: Legislate Free, Prior and Informed Consent in all matters impacting indigenous people including over issues like child welfare
(6) Safe September: No more than 15 kids per classroom
(7) Status for All: Regularization for all migrants without permanent resident (PR) status in Canada, PR on arrival for all migrants, refugees, students and workers in the future.
(8) Tax the Super Rich” Inheritance tax, clamp down on evasion, 1% annual tax on net wealth over $20m; no fossil fuel subsidies.
(9) Universal Services: Pharmacare, universal childcare, healthcare, education and expanded public services; no austerity.
(10) Global Justice: No $19bn for fighter jets; effective oil, gas & mining ombudsperson, foreign policy independent from the US focussing on peace, human rights and overcoming global inequities.
Thank you to the 21 people who consulted on this list, I’m not naming them, but they are comrades already doing the work, leading crucial campaigns. Join them by taking action for one / all of the above.
