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Pros And Cons Of Canada's Economic Action Plan

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The Trials and Tribulation of Canada’s Economic Action Plan

Beginning in 2007 and reaching critical mass in 2008, repercussions of economic downturn were being felt by nations across the globe. In North America, the collapse of the United States housing and mortgage market along with the wreckless actions of financial institutions and Wall Street can be identified as some of the main triggers in the downturn. Other nations were feeling declines as well, and the eventual decline in some European Union countries further contributed to this worldwide situation. This economic downward spiral quickly made its way into Canada, and was a huge issue of concern during the 2008 federal election. Out of this federal election walked a minority elected …show more content…

The Department of Finance Canada (2009) developed the plan to tackle five main points in regards to the economy and they are as follows. Their first element was action to stimulate spending: this was achieved by providing $8.3 billion into trades and other skills in an effort to help Canadians develop and attain in demand skills that would benefit even further into the future. Secondly $7.8 billion was injected into the home construction sector; this was done to promote growth of jobs in the construction industry and provide more high quality homes for Canadians. The Departments third element, and one of the most “visible” Action Plan elements was the goal of developing, expanding and upgrading our infrastructure through the stimulus of $12 billion. Relief was allotted as well for some of Canada’s biggest sectors: the auto, forestry and manufacturing industries received special funding of $7.5 billion to help them and the communities these industries are in. And the final element the Department of Finance noted was an effort to spend to continuously improve Canada’s financial system and improve Canadian citizens access to such …show more content…

Along with these specific relief zones, the government also worked to ensure that citizens received appropriate tax breaks and were given the incentive to engage in future skill development to help for tomorrow. Initiatives ensured things like Employment Insurance (EI) resources were increased and strengthened in order to further help those that had lost jobs in the downturn and were unsuccessful trying to re-enter the workforce. Grants and scholarships were also increased; especially in the trade fields were demand for skilled workers and apprentices was substantial. When the Action Plan was initially conceived and approved in the Canadian budget, it was a program intended to bet temporary. The initiatives that came out of it that were related to the stimulus of the construction sector and infrastructure development were initially to be over in two years before a deadline of the end of March, 2011 (Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2011). However some of the programs developed were not going to be able to meet this deadline due to delays, and the federal government sanctioned an extension of the deadline to October of

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