You wouldn’t know it from media reports, but without the federal NDP and its leader, Jagmeet Singh, we wouldn’t have the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) or the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) as we know them, or many of the other critical supports the government introduced since the COVID-19 pandemic swept across Canada.
While the Conservatives and the Bloc have been fighting to cut people off their benefits and force them back to work before it was safe, the NDP has shown the power and importance of having a determined, if small, opposition in Parliament that is focused on helping people in need.
Many of the measures the Liberals introduced initially were inadequate to address the depth and scale of the economic damage of COVID-19 on working people in Canada. The NDP fought hard to make them better. Without a strong NDP at their heels, it’s not hard to imagine the Liberals listing even further to the right, leaving many more people behind.
For example, let’s consider CERB. In mid-March, when it became clear that the government’s original aid package for out-of-work Canadians would be woefully inadequate, the NDP stepped in with a plan to provide $2000 per month – and within days the Liberals announced the NDP plan as its own. Since then, 8 million people have applied for CERB.
And when it became clear that the Liberals’ criteria for accessing CERB were still leaving up to a million people without benefits, the NDP fought to remove those barriers. In doing so, they secured access to CERB for students, seasonal workers, owners and operators, people who had exhausted their EI benefits, and those who continued to receive modest income from part-time work.
For another example, let’s look at the emergency wage subsidy. In March, as businesses told the government that its 10 per cent wage subsidy would not be enough to prevent skyrocketing layoffs, the NDP called for a 75 per cent wage subsidy to mount a so-called “firing freeze”. Thousands of workers were rehired at their companies as a result.
The NDP has also used its position in the minority parliament wisely, scoring key victories for working people when the Liberals needed the support of another party to pass its agenda. Most significantly, Jagmeet Singh won a commitment from the Liberals to provide ten days of paid sick leave for workers during the pandemic, so that no one has to choose between spreading the virus or earning a living. Singh also used his negotiating leverage to extend CERB from the original 16 weeks to 24 weeks.
For us in the labour movement, and for all who fight to make life better for working people, it’s clear that Jagmeet Singh and the NDP have our back, they are our voice and our ally in Parliament.
I sure hope Canadians remember who had their backs during a global pandemic next time there’s a federal election but we probably won’t
The NDP has also been pushing hard to upgrade the CERB into a permanent, completed coverage, Universal Basic Income. For every adult citizen. Even if you’re disabled. Or a stay-at-home parent.
Fey: Very well. When you return home tonight, your mother will be in pristine health again. It will be like she never fell ill at all. Even the memory of her suffering will fade…
Human: Thank you so much. She means everything to me.
Fey: I know, I know. Let’s hope the price wasn’t too much for you after all… Only time will tell.
Human: So, when do we start?
Fey: …If I may ask you to elaborate?
Human: You said you wanted my firstborn.
Fey: Yes? And you agreed?
Human: Yeah, so, when do we start?
Fey:
Fey, blushing: Ah.
So good. It deserved a some art.
Wow
Why would you hide this in the tags !!!!
This is how warlocks get fey patrons.
*runs through the woods screaming my own name* I’M HEEEEEEEERE
“Prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear human beings. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages” -Angela Y. Davis
Best wishes to these people obviously but I’m WHEEZING at the concept of a standard horror plot starter but the stranded travelers are an entire fully equipped orchestra.
It’s the prequel to every other horror film. Their haunting spirits play the background music.
Oh shoot, that actually would be a really cool concept. The film starts with no thematic music, and as each member of the orchestra is picked off, their instrument joins the soundtrack. Subtly, so you don’t really notice, and the end credits are a full orchestral symphony.
Fey: Very well. When you return home tonight, your mother will be in pristine health again. It will be like she never fell ill at all. Even the memory of her suffering will fade…
Human: Thank you so much. She means everything to me.
Fey: I know, I know. Let’s hope the price wasn’t too much for you after all… Only time will tell.
