Justin Trudeau has been doing press conferences often to update Canadians on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s announced an $82-billion budget to help Canadians deal with the inevitable fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak. Among other measures, an emergency EI plan has been put into motion as well as an emergency GST payment in April to help laid-off workers pay for food, for housing costs, and their bills.
The government is also providing assistance to small businesses that are closing down temporarily due to quarantine measures. The federal government has paused student loan payments for six months, with no interest accruing, making things much easier for students and graduates in an already difficult time. Emergency and crucial workers such as nurses, doctors, and cashiers are continuing to work and are keeping the country running.
It’s very interesting how quickly the shift can be made from a capitalist-centred system to one that supports people in a more leftist, socialist way: virtually all Canadians in need have access to some form of government assistance.
The need for this change also speaks volumes to the capitalist system’s instability in times of crisis. The fact that we have to shift gears completely and so radically shows that we may be heading into some serious economic trouble in the future—the capitalist system we have in place doesn’t suit our needs.
Whatever the case might be with our economy in the future, we have to take it one step at a time.