• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Income Security Advocacy Centre

Income Security Advocacy Centre

ISAC works to address issues of income security and poverty in Ontario

  • Our Work
    • Litigation
    • Policy
    • Community Organizing
    • Public Education
  • Publications
  • Updates
  • Campaigns
  • About Us
    • Mission, Vision & Mandate
    • Staff Members
    • Members
    • Board Members
    • Annual Reports
    • Contact Us
  • Resources
  • Share Your Story
  • Twitter

Federal Budget 2024: ISAC’s Pre-Budget Submission (August 2023)

August 8, 2023

Every federal budget cycle includes a period for public submissions well in advance of budget deliberations.

ISAC submitted recommendations to the Standing Committee on Finance during the first 2024 Federal Budget pre-budget submission period which closed on August 4, 2023. Recommendations were submitted in an abridged format.

ISAC recommends the following for Budget 2024:

Recommendation 1 – Reform Employment Insurance into a fair and accessible program for all workers by setting a cross-Canada qualifying rule of 360 hours or 12 weeks for all benefits and setting a benefit floor at $500 per week.

Recommendation 2 – Allocate the necessary funding to implement the Canada Disability Benefit in 2024 in a way that meets the needs of people with disabilities. In particular, the Benefit must have broad eligibility and accessibility, be exempt from clawbacks, and have low-barrier appeal rights.

Recommendation 3 – Extend eligibility for the Canada Child Benefit to all children who reside in Canada, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. Invest in targeted community outreach strategies to reduce barriers and to ensure Indigenous communities can access the Benefit.

Recommendation 4 – Improve income security for low income Canadians by improving and investing in broadly accessible social programs aimed at reducing poverty.

Recommendation 5 – Investigate and hold accountable major corporations that misused pandemic benefits. Implement a broad program of debt forgiveness for low-income individuals who received pandemic benefits, and ensure low repayment plans are easily available.

Recommendation 6 – Make relevant and needed financial investments in First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and urban Indigenous communities, as determined by community leadership and community members, without delay.

Recommendation 7 – Bring in a comprehensive and inclusive regularization program for migrants that includes undocumented migrants.

Recommendation 8 – Increase the minimum wage for federally regulated workers to $20 an hour, while maintaining annual indexing to the Consumer Price Index.

Recommendation 9 – Remove the accrual model for the ten employer-paid sick days legislated in Bill C-3 and replace it with full access to ten paid sick days per year immediately upon starting new employment and at the beginning of each calendar year.

Read our full submission in English (PDF) here or in French (PDF) here.

You can also scroll through the submission (in English) in the embedded window below.

ISAC-2024-Federal-Pre-Budget-Submission-to-the-Standing-Committee-on-Finance-August-2023-webDownload

Canada Child Benefit (CCB), Canada Disability Benefit (CDB), Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), Disability Justice, Employment Insurance (EI), Employment Standards, Federal Budgets, Indigenous Justice, Migrant Workers, Policy Advocacy

Primary Sidebar

Blog sidebar

Subscribe

"*" indicates required fields

Name

Income Security Advocacy Centre

Footer widget

1500 – 55 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5J 2H7
Tel: (416) 597-5820 • Toll Free: 1-866-245-4072 • Fax: (416) 597-5821

  • Contact

This site contains general legal information for people in Ontario, Canada. It is not intended to be used as legal advice for a specific legal problem. ISAC is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization. ISAC is funded by Legal Aid Ontario (LAO). The funding for this website is also provided by LAO. The views expressed in any of ISAC’s publications (including written, oral, or visual) are the views of the clinic and do not necessarily reflect those of LAO.