Statement from CBTU on Economic and Fiscal update 2021

December 15, 2021

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland delivered the Economic and Fiscal update providing information on the current state of the economy and Canada’s plan to recover from the pandemic. 

“Canada’s Building Trades Unions is pleased to see the 2021 Economic and Fiscal Update announce supports for Canadians and businesses that remain hard hit with the COVID-19 pandemic. These supports include funding for increased ventilation in businesses, schools and community buildings, and enhancing tax deductions for those working from home. 

While these commitments are welcomed, Canada’s skilled tradespeople – who cannot work from home – are ineligible for similar tax deductions due to their choice of profession. Our workers have continued to go to work on job sites from the start of the pandemic, building our critical infrastructure and our Net-Zero future. Canada’s skilled tradespeople deserve tax fairness in the form of a Skilled Trades Workforce Mobility Tax Deduction for out-of-pocket travel expenses. Not only would this lessen the burden on travelling for work, it would also address labour shortages being faced in the construction sector from coast to coast. We need tax fairness in Canada now.

We were pleased to see the support for British Columbia who have been hit hard by environmental disasters. Rebuilding critical infrastructure decimated by recent disasters is necessary and important and highlights the need to invest in our transition to Net-Zero. That’s why CBTU fully supports announcements in investing in things like carbon capture, storage and utilization (CCUS), small modular reactors and commercial and industrial retrofits. CBTU supports the necessary steps we need to take to address climate change, and stand ready to continue to work with the Government to ensure workers have a seat at the decision-making table.”

-Sean Strickland, Executive Director, Canada’s Building Trades Unions

For the full text of the Economic and Fiscal Update, visit here.

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Media Contact

Kate Walsh  kwalsh@buildingtrades.ca 613.298.0652

About CBTU

Canada’s Building Trades Unions are an alliance of 14 international unions in the construction, maintenance and fabrication industries that collectively represent over 600,000 skilled trades workers in Canada. Each year, our unions and our signatory contractor partners invest over $300 million in private sector money to fund and operate over 195 apprenticeship training and education facilities across Canada that produce the safest, most highly trained and productive skilled craft workers found anywhere in the world. Canada’s Building Trades Unions represent members who work in more than 60 different trades and occupations, and generate six per cent of Canada’s GDP. For more information, go to www.buildingtrades.ca