Federal budget task: Fix Canada's job crisis

OTTAWA, March 1 /CNW Telbec/ - Canada faces its worst job crisis in a generation and the federal government needs to step forward with a solution in this week's budget, says the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

Along with the release of its annual Alternative Federal Budget, the CCPA proposes a six-point job plan to get Canada working again.

"The global recession wiped out 486,000 full-time Canadian jobs within a year and those jobs aren't coming back on their own," says CCPA Senior Economist Armine Yalnizyan.

"To make matters worse, 810,000 Employment Insurance (EI) beneficiaries may run out of benefits within the next few months without a job in sight, which would be a disaster."

The CCPA jobs plan would:

    
    1.  Protect the Jobless: Reform EI to ensure over a million and a half
        jobless Canadians don't tumble into poverty or end up on welfare.
    2.  Sustain Stimulus Spending: Commit $15 billion a year, focused on
        paying down a huge accumulated deficit in social and physical
        infrastructure investments.
    3.  Revive Canada's Manufacturing Base: Invest $5 billion over three
        years to rejuvenate the industrial base of this country.
    4.  Create the Green Jobs of Tomorrow Today: Make Canada an environmental
        leader with a $5 billion plan over three years to green our economy.
    5.  Get Youth Working: Double summer employment efforts to ensure
        Canada's youth don't sit another year out on the sidelines.
    6.  Strengthen Consumer Confidence: Unleash a poverty reduction plan to
        help boost fledgling consumer confidence and get Canadians spending
        locally.
    

"It took seven years to regain the full-time jobs lost in the 1990-91 recession," says Alternative Federal Budget Coordinator David Macdonald. "Our plan would bring unemployment back to pre-recession levels by the end of 2011 and demonstrates there is a better way to reach fiscal balance through smart investments and smart taxation."

All 2010 Alternative Federal Budget materials are available on the CCPA website: http://policyalternatives.ca

For further information: Kerri-Anne Finn, CCPA Senior Communications Officer, at [phone] x306