Budget 2000: Better Finances Better Lives
Health Care and
Post-Secondary Education
Budget 2000 will boost funding for post-secondary education and health care by $2.5 billion over the next two years – the fourth consecutive increase to the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST). Combined with last year’s historic investment, this budget will bring the federal government’s cash contribution to the CHST to $15.5 billion – an increase of almost 25 per cent over two years. Total federal support to the provinces – including the tax transfer – will reach an all time high of close to $31 billion next year. Health care, education and other programs will also benefit from a $500 million boost in Equalization transfers.
The Environment
Environmental Technologies and Sustainable Practices
Clean air, water and healthy habitats are essential to a higher quality of life. Understanding that our economy and our environment are closely linked is also part of any comprehensive innovation strategy.
Between 1999-2000 and 2002-03, Budget 2000 commits some $700 million in funding towards developing new technologies and tools that will meet our environmental challenges. Specifically, this funding will:
Support the creation of a new Sustainable Development Technology Fund, to help companies develop new environmental technologies and bring them to market;
Assist in creating the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, a network of institutes to link researchers across the country;
Help Canada move to more environmentally-friendly energy;
Establish a Green Municipal Enabling Fund to help communities assess where their environmental needs are greatest; and,
Be used to develop a set of indicators to measure environmental performance as it relates to economic performance.
The government will create a new Sustainable Development Technology fund to help companies develop new technologies and bring them to market. We will also encourage the development of a network of research institutes through the creation of the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences. The Green Municipal Enabling Fund will also help communities assess where their environmental needs are the greatest.
"I am delighted that this government has recognized that we must not leave our children a country that is economically stronger and socially richer, but environmentally poorer."
– David McGuinty, Executive Director, National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (February 28, 2000)
Innovation is the driving force of the new economy. Budget 2000 builds on previous initiatives to encourage knowledge, innovation, research and development to ensure Canada and Canadians are positioned to succeed.
Research and Development
Over the past six years, the government has taken important steps to ensure that all Canadians are ready – both to benefit from, and contribute to – innovation. We are well on our way today thanks to initiatives including the Canadian Opportunities Strategy and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
Budget 2000 makes important investments in these and other initiatives. It increases funding for the CFI by another $900 million so it can continue its work into 2005 – bringing total funding for the CFI to $1.9 billion. Budget 2000 also provides $900 million over five years to establish and sustain 2,000 Chairs for Research Excellence in Canadian universities by 2004-05. To help students, Budget 2000 increases the tax exemption on income from scholarships, fellowships and bursaries from $500 to $3,000. Budget 2000 also advances the study of genes and biotechnology – focusing on how they relate to health – with a $160 million investment in the new Genome Canada project.
"If I was a tech worker in Kanata [Ont.] or one of the other tech centres and I was thinking of going to the U.S., I’d think again."
– Sherry Cooper, Chief Economist with Nesbitt Burns, (The Globe and Mail, February 29, 2000)
Infrastructure
The capacity to move people and goods safely and efficiently is key to an innovative and productive economy. The federal government is committed to expanding economic development in smaller communities right across the country by strengthening the basic physical infrastructure of both rural and urban Canada. We are contributing $450 million for the next two years, and $550 million in each of the following four years, to strengthen the infrastructure of cities and rural areas in cooperation with provincial and municipal governments, and where applicable, the private sector.
Parental Benefits
As promised in the Speech from the Throne, the government is doubling the duration of maternity and parental leave as part of the Employment Insurance Program. As of December 31, 2000 a new mother or father can stay at home as long as a year with their newborn or newly adopted child. The government is also making it easier to qualify for maternity and parental benefits by lowering to 600 from 700 the number of hours of work required to be eligible for benefits. These changes, and others, will benefit some 150,000 families a year at an estimated annual cost of $900 million.
Business:
Innovation and Global Competitiveness
Canadian businesses will benefit from tax cuts that will encourage innovation and investment, and put all sectors of our economy on an internationally competitive footing. As a first step, we are lowering the tax rate paid by higher-taxed industries – mostly in the high-tech, services sectors – from 28 to 21 per cent by 2004. Also, small businesses with income between $200,000 and $300,000 will benefit from a 21 per cent corporate tax rate, down from 28 per cent, beginning January 1, 2001.