Oxfam comment on the Alternative Federal Budget released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Commenting on the Alternative Federal Budget released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), Oxfam Canada Senior Policy Advisor Lauren Ravon said:

“The CCPA budget provides a rich and achievable menu of options that would improve the lives of Canadians. Increased revenue would provide much needed investment for public services and programs at home and around the world.

Overseas development assistance (ODA) is at a record low. With progressive taxes on the richest 1% of Canadians, at least $3 billion in new revenue would be available for strategic investment where it would make a meaningful difference.

While a great deal of progress has been made in lifting people out of poverty, we now see extreme inequality within countries dramatically increasing. Both in Canada, where we are the most unequal society in the OECD after the United States, and around the world. The richest ten percent of Canadians have more wealth than the bottom 70%. And as Oxfam’s recent report demonstrated, we will soon live in a world where the richest 1% will have more wealth than the rest of humanity combined.

There are many kinds of inequality. One of the most pervasive, in Canada and internationally, is gender inequality. In Canada, we know that women still earn 20% less than their male peers. And globally we know that it would take another 75 years to achieve equal pay for equal work.

The destructive trend of growing inequality is not inevitable. It is entirely optional, the reflection of policy choices. The CCPA budget released today shows a path forward where inequality of all kinds would be substantively reduced.”

For further comment and interviews with Lauren Ravon, contact Media Officer Melanie Gallant,