This memo was sent to select cabinet ministers, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Privy Council Office on Friday September 4, 2020. The purpose was to provide input into cabinet deliberations leading to the Speech From The Throne, by presenting a framework for Canada’s recovery from COVID-19.
Recovery from the public health and economic crises associated with COVID-19 will involve several, overlapping economic issues which include: a rise in on-demand employment, slow growth, an aging population, and the ‘she-cession.’
To address this, policies must centre on initiatives that maximize everyone’s individual potential which, in turn, maximizes our collective potential. To achieve this, the proposed framework relies on three interconnected pillars of federal action:
- Jobs – Quantity and Quality
- Incomes – Adequacy and Stability
- Services – Accessibility and Optimization
The memo makes a series of recommendations along the lines of these pillars.
It was written by Armine Yalnizyan (Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers), Laurell Ritchie (EI Working Group – Good Jobs for All Coalition), and Mary Gellatly (Parkdale Community Legal Services, Fight for $15 and Fairness). Any errors are ours.
Additional input was provided by Colette Murphy (Atkinson Foundation), Garima Talwar Kapoor (Maytree), Morna Ballantyne (Child Care Now), Kerry McCuaig (Atkinson Centre at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education), and Nora Cole (Atkinson Foundation).