MONTREAL, QC – Inflation is hurting Canadians in every community across the country with more families than ever seeking help from food banks and other community support non-profit organizations. As we’ve tried to navigate a pandemic, multiple climate disasters, and escalating global conflict, people have been struggling more and more, and inequality has been growing to unprecedented levels. The government needs to be doing more to ensure everyone has their most basic needs met.
Tackling inflation the interest rate policy applied by the Bank of Canada will certainly help in reducing demand but it won’t control inflation. It takes much more than higher interest rates to get inflation under control and the tools available to the Bank of Canada are limited. We need government to step up with long-term policy for economic stability and community self-sufficiency.
Liberals keep telling us inflation is a global problem and that Canada is doing better than most, citing unemployment and GDP numbers that are better than pre-pandemic levels, numbers that are outperforming our G7 partners. Step outside Parliament Hill, step off Bay Street and talk to anyone you see not wearing a suit, they’ll tell you how those numbers don’t reflect their reality.
Conservatives keep beating the “no new taxes” drum, trying to blame the carbon tax for rising fuel costs when this is absolutely a drop in the bucket compared to the excess profits seen by fossil fuel companies. The Conservative government in the United Kingdom experimented with their own tax cuts recently and the result was such economic havoc that they are now trying to aggressively reverse course. The evidence is clear, an across the board reduction in taxes would only increase government deficits, further reduce the quality of government services that have been struggling recently, and fuel even greater inflation.
Meanwhile the NDP proposes solutions like increasing taxes on corporations that would certainly help with wealth distribution but is a band-aid to a situation that requires nothing short of complete economic transformation.
Greens know the root cause of the current inflationary crisis is supply instability and that is in large part due to climate disruption. Storm upon storm, forest fires, flooding, drought and fatal heat waves are all having an impact on the supply chain and the price of goods. And how do we respond to these crises but with government spending and payouts from insurance companies, although the latter is becoming increasingly unlikely as the climate crisis worsens.
We’re told by government and mainstream economists that the economy is growing because these short-term “recovery” measures register as GDP growth, yet our well-being continues to decline.
To break the unsustainable status-quo the Green Party of Canada proposes:
- Implementation of a universal and guaranteed livable income so everyone can provide themselves and their families with their most basic needs
- Implementation of a genuine progress indicator dashboard following the doughnut economic model
- Eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels as a way to control inflationary pressure
- Invest massively in climate adaptation and resilience in order for Canada to prosper in the future
- Develop a national strategy for complete economic transformation to a circular economy at the national, regional and local level
- Implement a windfall tax on excess profits from oil and gas companies, as called for by the UN Secretary General
- Recover the $30B in taxes lost through corporate tax loopholes
- End the subsidies going to the fossil fuel industry including the Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage tax credit
The Green Party is the only one looking at the deep causes of the multiple crises we are all trying to face. If we are to build a more resilient society capable of enabling everyone to live their life with dignity, we must address climate disruption and the unsustainably of extractive capitalism, now.
Luc Joli-Coeur
Deputy Leader and Finance Critic,
Green Party of Canada
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact :
Fabrice Lachance Nové
Press Secretary
514-463-0021