Every dollar invested is a vote for the future we want to see

Why the Federal 2021 budget matters

👋 to all the folks curious about systemic change so that more can win in the game of life. 

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The newsletter today is simpler and I’ll be back with the full in-depth gif-y experience later this week.

The TL;DR of today: read the Federal 2021 budget and ask yourself: Is every dollar committed a vote for the future you want to see in Canada?

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The Feds Are A Spendin’!

Yesterday the federal government released their 2021 budget. 

It’s chock full of goodies for all, including:

• Extended aid for workers and employers. 

• Strategic Innovation Fund for future-forward projects like green infrastructure. 

• Tons of $$$ for a universal child care model

• An overdue and signifiant amount of money for healthier and safer indigenous communities

You can read the full budget if you like. It’s long so I suggest scanning the table of contents for the topics you’re interested in.

CBC has you covered for the shortest review and highlights. And every single other news media outlet is chock full of analysis.

Whatever analysis you read, my one suggestion is to keep this phrase in mind: Every dollar spent is a vote for the future we want to see.

Let me explain. When I spend money on organic bananas I send a signal to the market that I want more of those kinds of bananas than the non-organic. The market then grows more organic bananas.

The federal budget works the same. Every dollar our government spends is a vote for the direction they want the country to head.

Spend more on clean energy today and we’ll have a cleaner environment in the future.

Spend more on childcare today and we’ll have better educated children and more working parents in the future.

You get the point. 

Are we going to create the future you want to see?

So far in this newsletter, I’ve covered systemic racism at work, power gap of women in leadership roles, and wage inequality. There are lots of other topics to come - including clean energy, transparent insurance pricing, and educating adults for better and new jobs.

This just scratches the surface of things I think we need improved or systematically changed so that more Canadians can win in the game of life. 

But what do *you* care about?

Do you agree that every dollar our government will spend is going to give us the future we want and need as Canadians? 

What’s in the budget you’re happy to see?

What’s missing in the budget?

Note - these aren’t rhetorical questions - I actually want to hear back from you, so respond to this email or leave a comment.

I’ll take the first step. The $30 billion childcare spending is AMAZING. And, it needs to ensure there is a diversity of models to reflect how parents work today. IMO, only middle class, full-time, permanently employed parents will benefit from the $10/day model currently proposed. 

We need flexible care for kids of contract workers who pick up gigs for only months at a time. We need night-time and weekend care for nurses and hourly wage earners. We need drop in care for new parents who want to stay in the workforce but also want to stay close to their fresh babes.

Right now, the budget is leading us to more of the same weekday, full time, full year coverage. That won’t work for our modern economy. Stay tuned for more from Amanda Munday and me on this.

Now it’s over to you! What do you think?

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Happy budget week and I’m keen to hear your thoughts!

Stay tuned for later this week for an interesting dive into the world of health and dental insurance (yes, it can be interesting, I promise!).

🌈

Jess