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A P R I L 2021 ME S S E NG E R
Federal Government Delivers First Budget Since 2019 Election: What does this mean for our Metis Settlements?
Also in this update: Bill-15: The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) & Federal Health Legislation: Report by Blake Desjarlais, B.A (Political Science) April 27, 2021. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Finance Minister & Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland. Tables 2021 Federal Budget. April 19 2021.
The Government of Canada has finally tabled its first budget since the October 2019 election (which resulted in a Minority Government, meaning the Liberal’s requires at least one opposition party to agree in order to pass laws and budgets). On April 19, 2021, the long-awaited budget was finally tabled in the House of Commons and voted in-favour, by the Liberals and the NDP, on Monday April 26th 2021. This budget, being one of the largest in Canadian history, will be putting into effect new programs, spending, and supports to which Canada will began implementing with partners, such as MSGC, immediately, with budget engagement work starting as early as Tuesday, April 27th 2021.
Canada’s 2021 budget is focused on implementing a Universal Child Care program, a COVID-19 economic recovery and addressing Climate Change. In addition, the federal government plans to spend more than $18 billion over the next five years to try to narrow the socio-economic gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, originally hailing from Alberta has made history this budget, becoming Canada’s first women to ever table a federal budget in the House of Commons. She said in her budget speech that the government has made “progress in righting the historic wrongs in Canada’s relationship with Indigenous Peoples” but noted a lot of work remains to be done. MSGC has been working stead-fast with the federal government and Members of Parliament throughout this session and in a pandemic to advance Metis Settlements members interests in this budget. MSGC has fought hard to be included in this budget from appearances in the House of Commons, to providing sworn testimony in federal committee (which ultimately did recommend funding support for MSGC). Although much more needs to be done, this budget is the first of hopefully many that will benefit our communities with priorities such as infrastructure, new jobs, housing, and health. The MSGC-Canada-Alberta Tri-lateral Working group will be working diligently over the next few months to immediately begin implementation of this new budget and to identify funding amounts for our communities now that the budget has been tabled and passed. The government proposes to spend more than $6 billion for infrastructure in Indigenous communities, a top priority for MSGC, including funding for clean water projects, housing, roads and other community priorities. Our Metis Settlements will now have historic access to federal infrastructure funding with implementation work starting as early as April 27th 2021.
O u r L a n d . O u r C u l t u r e . O u r F u t u r e .
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