Minister Bennett highlights supports for businesses in Budget 2021 in Newfoundland and Labrador

SAINT JOHN'S, NL, April 23, 2021 /CNW/ - Budget 2021 is the Government of Canada's plan to finish the fight against COVID-19 and ensure a robust economic recovery that is inclusive of all Canadians.

Today, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, met with businesses to discuss investments from Budget 2021: A Recovery Plan for Jobs, Growth, and Resilience.

The COVID-19 recession is the steepest and fastest economic contraction since the Great Depression. It has disproportionately affected low-wage workers, young people, women, and racialized Canadians. For businesses, it has been a two-speed recession, with some finding ways to prosper and grow, but with many businesses—especially small businesses—fighting to survive. Budget 2021 is an historic investment to address the specific wounds of the COVID-19 recession, put people first, create jobs, grow the middle class, set businesses on a track for long-term growth, and ensure that Canada's future will be healthier, more equitable, greener, and more prosperous.

Many businesses have been shut down outright by necessary public health restrictions or deeply limited in what they can do—and many of these highly affected businesses have been our small businesses. We need them to get back on their feet. They are the backbone of our economy, our main streets, and our communities.

Budget 2021 is a plan to make targeted investments in Canada's businesses so they can hire and train Canada's workers, who will then have more money to spend, spurring our recovery and growing an economy with more opportunities for everyone. It is a plan to help our businesses, especially small businesses, adopt new technologies. Restoring permanent and long-term economic growth means that we must help our businesses come back stronger than ever before.

The Government of Canada's top priority remains protecting Canadians' health and safety, particularly during this third, aggressive wave of the virus and its variants. Vaccine rollout is underway across Canada, with federal government support in every province and territory. Budget 2021 invests in Canada's bio-manufacturing and life sciences sector to rebuild domestic vaccine manufacturing capacity, and has a plan to put in place national standards for long-term care and mental health services.

Budget 2021 is a plan to bridge Canadians and Canadian businesses through the crisis and toward a robust recovery. It is a plan to drive economic growth, a plan to secure women's place in the workforce, and a plan to offer each and every child in Canada the best start in life. This plan will aim to reduce fees for parents by 50 per cent on average by 2022, with a goal of reaching $10 per day on average by 2025–26 for all regulated child care spaces in Canada. It proposes to extend business and income support measures through to the fall and to make investments to create jobs and help businesses across the economy come roaring back. It will support almost 500,000 new training and work opportunities, including 215,000 opportunities for youth; support businesses in our most affected sectors, such as tourism and arts and culture; and accelerate investment and digital transformation in small and medium-sized businesses. Budget 2021 is a plan that puts Canada on track to meet its commitment to create 1 million jobs by the end of the year.

Canada entered the pandemic in a strong fiscal position. This allowed the government to take quick and decisive action, supporting people and businesses, and put it in the position to make historic investments in the recovery.

Quote

"Small businesses are the heart of our cities, towns, and villages across Newfoundland and Labrador, and the rest of our country. We know small businesses have been severely impacted by the pandemic and many of them are at risk of closing permanently without support. With Budget 2021, we are helping small businesses and other hard-hit sectors make a robust recovery and come roaring back."

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, the Honourable Carolyn Bennett

Quick facts

• Budget 2021 includes $101.4 billion over three years in proposed investments as part of the Government of Canada's growth plan that will create good jobs and support a resilient and inclusive recovery. Key measures include the following:
• Extending emergency supports to bridge Canadians and Canadian businesses through to recovery, including
• extending the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy and Lockdown Support until September 25, 2021
• extending the number of weeks for important income support for Canadians, such as the Canada Recovery Benefit and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit.
• Enhancing Employment Insurance sickness benefits from 15 to 26 weeks.
• Supporting small and medium-sized businesses through several transformative programs, such as
• a new Canada Digital Adoption Program that will assist over 160,000 businesses with the cost of new technology and provide them with the advice they need to get the most of new technology with the help of 28,000 young Canadians who will be trained to work with them
• allowing Canadian small businesses to fully expense up to $1.5 million in capital investments in a broad range of assets, including digital technology and intellectual property, representing an additional $2.2 billion investment in the growth of Canada's entrepreneurs over the next five years.
• Revitalizing Canada's tourism sector through $1 billion to help tourism businesses recover and support festivals and cultural events that provide jobs and create growth in many of our cities and communities.
• Supporting women, Black Canadians, and other underrepresented entrepreneurs who face barriers to launching and owning businesses through $300 million to enhance initiatives like the Black Entrepreneurship Program and the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy.
• Enriching the Canada workers benefit, which will support about 1 million more Canadians and lift nearly 100,000 people out of poverty. This will result in additional support of $8.9 billion over six years for Canada's low-wage workers.
• Closing the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples; supporting healthy, safe, and prosperous Indigenous communities; and advancing meaningful reconciliation with First Nations, Inuit, and the Métis Nation through an historic investment of over $18 billion.

Related links

• Budget 2021: A Recovery Plan for Jobs, Growth, and Resilience
• Budget speech

Associated links

• Fall Economic Statement 2020: Supporting Canadians and Fighting COVID-19
• Canada's COVID-19 Economic Response Plan

SOURCE Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

Media may contact: Ani Dergalstanian, Press Secretary and Communications Advisor, Office of the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, 819-997-0002; Media Relations, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, 819-934-2302, [email protected]