The federal budget needs to invest in people

The problem we face

Across Canada, people are doing everything right and still falling behind. Families are skipping prescriptions or putting off appointments because they can’t find a provider. Hospitals and long-term care homes are short-staffed and burning out the workers we all rely on. Rents and mortgages swallow paycheques, while too many communities face the daily reality of homelessness. Climate disasters keep coming, and the cost lands hardest on those with the least. Meanwhile, corporate profits and extreme wealth soar, and public systems are told to do more with less.

This didn’t happen by accident. For years, government spending has treated people, the workers who staff our hospitals, teach our kids, run our public services, and keep our communities safe, as an afterthought. Investments have neglected things that actually make life possible: care, decent work, affordable homes, and a livable planet. These are the basics that keep a country from coming apart at the seams and are essential for a strong economy.

The next federal budget needs to change course. A people-first budget starts with fixing the staffing crisis in public health care and essential services. It stabilizes the workforce now with retention measures that keep experienced health care workers at the bedside and on the front lines, while training and recruiting the next generation into permanent, full-time jobs. It means expanding public coverage, including pharmacare and mental health, and protecting the Canada Health Act so care is based on need, not ability to pay.

A people-first budget also tackles the housing emergency at its roots by building non-market homes at scale: public, co-op, and supportive housing that stays affordable in every community. It strengthens income security by modernizing Employment Insurance and delivering a meaningful, accessible Canada Disability Benefit so no one is left behind between jobs or because of disability. It advances justice for Indigenous peoples by funding clean water, Indigenous-led solutions, and concrete action on the Calls to Action and Calls for Justice.

Real leadership means paying for what matters, fairly. Closing tax loopholes, resourcing enforcement against avoidance, and ensuring extreme wealth and excess corporate profits contribute their share will fund the care, homes, and climate resilience Canadians need. And as new technologies reshape our economy, public dollars for AI and innovation must serve the public interest, building capacity inside government and publicly delivered services, with accountability and transparency.

We can choose a different future. One where progress is measured not by kilometres of asphalt poured, but by shorter ER wait times, stable care teams, secure housing, safer communities, and a cleaner grid that powers good jobs. That’s what it looks like to invest in people first.

What the next federal budget needs

Health care and public services: Canada needs a pan-Canadian Health Human Resources strategy with an immediate emergency retention fund, standardized workforce data, and full-time jobs over staffing agency reliance. The federal government should Increase the Canada Health Transfer toward 35% now with a path to 50%, and expand public coverage, including single-payer pharmacare, mental health, long-term and home care, while regulating private virtual care to uphold the Canada Health Act.

Housing: Federal housing programs should build non-market, affordable public, supportive, and co-op housing at scale.

Justice for Indigenous peoples: We need to fund clean water initiatives on reserves, support Indigenous-led water solutions, implement the Calls for Justice and Calls to Action, establish a Red Dress Alert, and improve rural connectivity and transportation.

Social safety net: Reform EI and increase and simplify the Canada Disability Benefit with provinces and territories.

Tax fairness: Close loopholes, reverse regressive cuts, implement wealth and excess-profits taxes, properly resource anti-avoidance efforts, and reinstate the digital services tax so foreign multinationals pay their share. These revenues are essential to fund health care, housing, and climate action.

Public-interest AI: Prioritize AI funding that strengthens government capacity, with public control and delivery for publicly funded AI services.

Responsible defence spending: Evaluate increases based on real safety outcomes for Canadians, not shifting foreign demands.

Climate action and good jobs: Invest in a renewables-based grid intertie, public transit within and between communities, green affordable housing, and fully fund the Sustainable Jobs Action Plan. Remove barriers facing wildland firefighters and classify them appropriately in the NOC.

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