THUNDER BAY – New money in the federal budget will allow FedNor to get back to serving the needs it was created to address, insist two city MPs.
Ottawa’s spending plan, which was tabled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Tuesday, includes $28 million over five years to FedNor through the Innovation and Skills Plan, with $6 million of that amount earmarked to support women entrepreneurs.
For too long FedNor has been used as a catch-all fund that would be tapped into whenever money was needed in the region rather than driving economic development, Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Don Rusnak said.
“We have other investments through other government departments but FedNor really needs the focus on economic development,” Rusnak said.
“This increased funding is not only increased money coming to Northwestern Ontario for economic development but it’s really key in building the economy in making sure the students coming out of Lakehead University and Confederation College, the entrepreneurs that are looking for a little bit of help in expanding their businesses have that money.”
That new funding that will be distributed through FedNor comes one year after the federal government increased the agency’s annual budget by $25 million over five years.
Labour Minister Patty Hajdu, who is also the MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North, said the government’s prioritization of infrastructure funding for provinces and municipalities means that FedNor isn’t being relied upon as a stopgap.
“As we move forward with other sources of money for those projects, what it does is frees up the ability of FedNor to do pure economic development and innovation,” Hajdu said.
“To be able to invest in those kinds of things that are going to create good paying jobs in our region through innovation, technology, business development, that’s exactly what FedNor should be focused on and I’m excited we’re moving away from having to use FedNor for everything.”
The budget also includes a commitment of $3.2 billion over five years for science and research, which Hajdu said is the biggest investment in science by a Canadian government. Of that amount, $1.2 billion will be steered towards grants and research councils.
“This is something that will have specific benefit to Thunder Bay,” Hajdu said. “Our university has been growing in leaps and bounds, winning research awards like crazy. A lot of it is research that is very focused on the North but also very specific to our own very unique economy.”
The budget, the third of the Trudeau government, includes the establishment of a national pharmacare advisory council, promises of pay equity legislation to close the gender wage gap for federal workers and federally regulated sectors and a new five-week parental leave for a second parent.
It’s too early to know how frequently the new leave, targeted to fathers and non-birthing parents, will be utilized, Hajdu said.
“When the dad takes those five weeks it promotes bonding with the infant but further than that it also helps the dad assume a lot of the unpaid care work that moms are doing, like laundry and dishes,” Hajdu said.
“When the dad steps up to do more of that unpaid work it frees up the woman to do other things. It could be studying for advanced education, it might be working a little bit longer at the office and seeking a promotion. This approach we’re pursuing is about making sure the second parent has that opportunity to take dedicated time but we also support an increased sharing of the unpaid care work that typically women have performed.”
