It was in the face of a very sparse Senate, to respect the physical distancing linked to Covid-19, that the representative of Queen Elizabeth II in Canada, Governor General Julie Payette, read on Wednesday September 23 the new speech from the throne written by the Canadian Prime Minister. Justin Trudeau ruled that the one pronounced less than a year ago on December 5, 2019, the day after his re-election at the head of a minority government, was rendered obsolete by the pandemic and its economic consequences. To the chagrin of his opponents, he suspended the activity of Parliament in mid-August, cutting short the ongoing parliamentary inquiries into his involvement in the WE Charity scandal (UNIS in French, a charity that he is suspected of have favored for obtaining a government credit), with the promise to present to Canadians the new action plan of the government in the face of this unprecedented health and economic crisis.
“Now is not the time for austerity”, assured the Prime Minister, before declining many measures intended to strengthen the protective social safety net adopted in the spring to allow Canadian companies and employees to survive during the crisis. Extension until next summer of the “emergency wage subsidy” for companies – which covers part of the wages of private sector employees – credit facility for SMEs in difficulty, but also extension for workers the employment insurance system in order to take over from the “Canadian emergency benefit” (2,000 Canadian dollars per month, or 1,280 euros) which has benefited nine million Canadians since the start of the pandemic, creation a universal drug insurance plan or even generalization of a crèche system to promote the work of women, particularly affected during this crisis: a multitude of measures intended to “Limit the inequalities brought to light during the crisis”, justified Justin Trudeau, but also to revive the economy. The Prime Minister promised the creation “One million jobs thanks to investments in infrastructure and the social sector” with the stated objective of returning to the level of unemployment before the arrival of the virus, ie around 5.5%.
The carbon tax before the Supreme Court
The head of government also took advantage of this speech to affirm that this crisis was the opportunity to go further in terms of green growth. He is committed to “Put in place a plan that will surpass Canada’s climate targets for 2030”, saying they are ready to promote the emergence of a Canadian industry “Construction of zero-emission vehicles and batteries”, and once again defending his ” carbon tax “, at the very moment when it is the subject of a legal challenge by several western oil provinces, before the Supreme Court.
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