This House of Commons Finance Committee meeting studied pre-budget consultations for the 2026 federal budget, hearing from a wide range of witnesses representing charitable, health, innovation, and food security organizations.
John Hallward proposed creating a national social sector fund financed by redirecting a small fraction of philanthropic foundations' required disbursement quota, with no cost to taxpayers, to invest in sector-wide capacity, efficiency, and a coordinated generosity campaign. He suggested either a mandate on foundation investment assets or a 1% tax on their investment income, similar to the U.S. model, to generate $50 million to $150 million annually.
Bruce MacDonald argued the non-profit sector is core national infrastructure contributing 8.4% to GDP, but faces a "perpetual state of start-up" due to fragmented federal engagement and burdensome grants and contributions programs. He recommended the sector be represented on federal advisory bodies, the CRA be resourced as a modern regulator, and reforms such as one-partner-one-profile reporting, longer funding terms, and outcome-focused accountability be adopted.
Kevin Muir recommended sustained investment in child care, including $20 billion over five years to cover true costs and a 25% wage increase for early childhood educators, doubling the building communities strong fund with seed funding for early-stage projects, and doubling annual investments in youth employment programs with five-year funding cycles. He emphasized that child care is both social and economic policy.
Aline Nizigama argued that investing in women's safety, housing, child care, and skills training is economic infrastructure with measurable returns, noting sexual violence alone costs Canada $15 billion annually. She recommended allocating 40% of affordable housing units to women, fully funding the national action plan on gender-based violence, $360 million over three years for shelters, $150 million over five years to support women in trades, and $10 million annually for national gender equity organizations.
Margot Burnell urged the government to harness digital health tools through Bill S-5, enact a primary care act, invest in climate-resilient health infrastructure, combat false health information, simplify the disability tax credit form, advance indigenous-led health solutions, and align immigration with health workforce planning. She stated that a healthy population is essential for a healthy economy.
Sarah Kennell and Jonny Morris recommended renewing a dedicated 10-year, $5-billion federal investment in mental health and addictions care, as current bilateral funding ends in March 2027. They argued that community-based mental health services are core economic infrastructure, and that without renewal, services relied upon to keep people well would be scaled back, leading to higher system costs and worse outcomes.
Kenton Boston recommended investing in a national early intervention network for young men, designating fatherhood as a key intervention point, addressing online radicalization as a public health emergency, and funding annual nationally representative research on men's health. He noted that improved men's health could save $12.4 billion annually and that programs have a 4:1 or 5:1 return on investment.
Sarah Giles requested $25 million over three years to scale up advanced skills training for rural physicians, a pan-Canadian rural health workforce strategy, a dedicated rural and indigenous health infrastructure carve-out, and a HESA study on rural primary and emergency care. She argued that rural health care is a strategic national necessity for economic development.
Helen Alexandra Hayes urged the government to establish a permanent public deliberation capacity for AI and other emerging technologies and to fund a standing national youth deliberation mechanism on AI and online safety. She argued that democratic governance of technology requires meaningful public inclusion to build trust and durable policy.
Céline Bak proposed building a network of 25 federally connected regional private credit fund managers over 10 years to lend $5 million to $25 million to Canadian SMEs, targeting $100 billion in new credit. She recommended a $10-billion temporary sovereign guarantee and a $12.5-billion revolving liquidity facility, arguing that Canadian capital is currently financing U.S. main street instead of Canadian businesses.
Daniel Perry and Laurent Carbonneau recommended using public procurement as a strategic tool to validate Canadian technology, building a sovereign AI and defence industrial base, strengthening innovation capital at series B and later stages with a Canadian qualified small business stock incentive, and modernizing the start-up visa to retain IP and talent. They noted that 40% of their members cite access to customers as their biggest challenge.
Adriana Vega urged the government to focus on implementing consumer-driven banking and stablecoin frameworks, reforming the Canada small business financing program to include fintech lenders, and ensuring fair access to real-time payments and near field communication technology. She argued that Canada's failure to act on open banking has cost consumers billions and that the focus should be on not adding constraints during rollout.
Judith Barry recommended that the federal government increase its school food program investment to match the nearly $400 million annually invested by provinces and territories, make the school food infrastructure fund permanent, and commit $20 million to prioritize Canadian-made food in school programs. She cited a cost-benefit analysis showing a two-dollar return for every dollar invested.
Melissa Secord recommended replacing the current cumbersome medical expense tax credit for celiac disease with a simple, fully refundable annual tax credit of approximately $1,000 per adult and $600 per child. She also called for strategic investments in the gluten-free food sector through the new agriculture framework to improve food security and supply chain resilience.
Neil Hetherington proposed a federal tax credit on rent paid by low-income households, similar to Manitoba's model, and broadening the disability tax credit's definition so that individuals receiving provincial disability support can qualify for the Canada disability benefit. He noted that over 90% of food bank clients are renters and that one in five spends 100% of their income on rent and utilities.
Jasmine Ramze Rezaee called for setting a national target to cut household food insecurity in half and eliminate severe food insecurity, improving the Canada groceries and essentials benefit, enhancing the Canada disability benefit, and investing in indigenous food sovereignty. She emphasized that food insecurity is a structural economic issue tied to inadequate incomes and that the national food security strategy must have a strong income security lens.
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