Senators call for governments to craft a grand post-pandemic plan to grow economy

OTTAWA – A group of senators is calling on the federal government to strike a grand economic plan with provinces, territories, businesses and civil society to drive growth coming out of the pandemic.

The report includes calls to rethink how to deliver skills-training programs, to streamline the regulatory system to encourage entrepreneurs and for companies to invest in themselves.

The document also says the federal government must come up with a more credible plan to manage the nation’s burgeoning debt through new rules to guide budgetary decisions.

Senators say the Trudeau Liberals must consider finding more new sources of revenue and suggest the government increase the value of federal sales tax.

The report made public today is the culmination of work that started last November and included interviews with some 70 domestic and international experts about how Canada could avoid another era of low economic growth.

Sen. Peter Harder, one of the 12 senators who worked on the report, says the group believes the country shouldn’t wait until after the pandemic to rethink how to improve Canada’s economic performance.

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