Canadian HR Reporter

www.hrreporter.com 25 O U R C L A S S R O O M S H A V E N O W A L L S JHSC Certification and health and safety training courses now available through Distance Learning PSHSA's Distance Learning is instructor-led training delivered online in real-time. In this virtual classroom, the instructor leads learners through discussions and exercises while providing ongoing support throughout the live synchronous session. Distance Learning ensures access to the health and safety training Ontario workers need while allowing them to learn remotely, and provides participants with the same critical content and access to expert guidance as PSHSA's classroom equivalent. For more information and to register visit pshsa.ca/training. 7938_PSHSA_Cert1 eLearning_HrReporter_HalfPg_Ad F.indd 1 7938_PSHSA_Cert1 eLearning_HrReporter_HalfPg_Ad F.indd 1 2020-08-18 4:15 PM 2020-08-18 4:15 PM spending cuts and austerity are a self- defeating policy. We know this because we have already lived through it. In fact, after the 2008-09 financial crisis, economic institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, found that government stimulus spending was a leading driver in returning our economy back to health. Yet, some notable voices in Canada are still advocating for budget cuts and belt-tightening, as if oblivious to the lessons of the past. We don't have to listen to the people who created the conditions for this crisis to be worse than it was. Instead of continuing down the path of inequality and greed, we can change course and invest in Canada's future. Road map for economic recovery Unifor released its "Road Map for a Fair, Inclusive and Resilient Economic Recovery" in June. The plan includes building an income security system that protects all workers and ensures that people do not live in poverty. It includes rebuilding the economy through the lens of sustainability. The plan is designed to build an economy that is more self-reliant and strategic and can make things right here in Canada and recognize that physical and social infrastructure are equally critical for 21st-century workers. When direct industry investments and bailouts are needed, the plan requires that governments are unafraid to require strict conditions that ensure benefits flow to workers instead of to executives and shareholders. Canada needs massive, historic investment in clean technolog y, green infrastructure and associated job creation. That means: Focus a permanent transit fund on emissions- free technology; invest heavily in zero-emission vehicle technology and production capacity for the auto sector; and build the skills and abilities of oilsands workers to meet our future energy needs. Governments must double down on investment in social and physical infrastructure, with supports such as universal childcare, a critical economic stabilizer that promotes gender equality and creates jobs — good jobs if government focuses funding on higher wages and benefits. They must also deliver, immediately, on universal pharmacare and fix the problems that the pandemic has exposed in Canada's long-term care system. Government has the capacity to make these investments. Increased borrowing at historically low interest rates, coupled with targeted tax increases on wealthy individuals and corporations, can together provide the funds to redistribute wealth from the hands of the few to the hands of the many through investments in public infrastructure and income security. Economists are predicting a long road to a full recovery. Government can accelerate that recovery and put us on a path toward a more fair, inclusive and resilient economy with decisive action. We demand an economic recovery that puts workers first, with good jobs and investments in the programs and infrastructure that our communities, and our lives, depend on. CHRR Jerry Dias is the national p re s i d e n t o f Un i f o r i n T o r o n t o . F o r m o r e information, visit www. buildbackbetter.unifor.org. The plan requires that governments are unafraid to require strict conditions that ensure benefits flow to workers instead of to executives and shareholders.

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