November 30, 2020
Federal Fall Economic Statement 2020
This afternoon, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Minister and Minister of Finance, released a Fall 2020 Economic Statement titled Supporting Canadians and Fighting COVID-19: Fall Economic Statement 2020. The document is focused on protecting Canadian’s health, jobs and the economy.
To ease the financial burden of student debt during the economic recovery, the government intends to eliminate the interest on repayment of the federal portion of the Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans for 2021-2022. This measure will bring $329.4 million in relief to up to 1.4 million Canadians who are either looking for work or in the early stages of their career.
The government proposes to provide $150 million over three years, starting in 2020-2021, to Infrastructure Canada to improve ventilation in public buildings and help reduce the spread of COVID-19. This is building on investments already made through the COVID-19 Resilience Stream under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program and Safe Return to Class Fund.
Attracting talented workers from around the world is an essential part of the government’s plan to help grow our economy and support the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 recession. The Foreign Credential Recognition Program helps address specific barriers faced by skilled newcomers to Canada. The government proposes to invest $15 million in 2021-2022 in the Foreign Credential Recognition Program and up to 15,000 skilled newcomers are expected to benefit from this investment.
The government is providing $1 billion in funding through the Rapid Housing Initiative. This initiative is managed by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and funding is available to municipalities, provinces and territories, Indigenous governing bodies and organizations and non-profit organizations.
Funding will be used for construction of modular housing, as well as the acquisition of land and conversion of existing buildings into affordable housing units. the government will provide new resources to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to enable the Rental Construction Financing Initiative to provide an additional $12 billion in new lending over seven years, staring in 2021-2022. This funding will increase the Rental Construction Financing Initiative’s total lending capacity from $13.75 billion to $25.75 billion in low interest loans and enable the construction of an additional 28,500 rental units.
For a complete copy of the Federal Fall Economic Statement, click here.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Katherine Jacobs
Director of Research
Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS)
180 Attwell Drive, Suite 360, Toronto, ON M9W 6A9
P 416.620.5210 ext. 222
F 416.620.5310
kjacobs@iciconstruction.com
