TORONTO – A year older, a year wiser.
Our nation blows out 145 candles this Sunday as Canadians take to the street to see fireworks, sing the national anthem and take in some celebratory libations to mark the country’s birthday.
A lot has happened in a busy year, with a slew of changes to the country’s stance on trade policy, assisting refugees and easing into reforming elder care. These differences will dramatically change the landscape of Canada in the coming years.
Take a look at 10 ways Canada has changed since last year’s Canada Day celebrations and how these new policies will affect you.
1. Prison closures. Kingston Penitentiary, constructed in 1835, is older than Canada itself and in April, Ottawa said it will be closing its doors along with Leclerc Institution in Laval, Que. Once the facilities are closed in two years, the government anticipates $120 million in savings each year. Critics have said this decision will lead to overcrowding in prisons, but new facilities, dubbed “mega prisons” are in the works.
2. Old age security reform. Census data pouring out of Statistics Canada this year shows Canada’s population is aging, and fast. In February, the Conservative government dropped a bomb on Canadians after it announced changes to the retirement system, pushing back Old Age Security eligibility from age 65 to age 67. The measures won’t kick in until 2023, but once it’s fully implemented by 2030, Ottawa is expecting $10.8 billion in savings per year.
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3. Free trade deals. As the United States and Europe grappled with bleeding economies, Canada turned to new trade opportunities in the past year. There were free trade agreements etched out with Columbia and Honduras, negotiations furthered across rising powers in South Asia with Japan, Korea, Thailand and China. These transactions should help Canada with exports and foster growth for domestic businesses.
4. Changes to employment insurance. Unpopular changes to EI rules that target frequent users were introduced in May to little fanfare. The changes will impact all jobless Canadians who apply for benefits, but will hit hardest so-called repeat claimants such as seasonal workers. In some cases, Canadians will have to take lower paying jobs, even in unrelated occupations, before they fall into appropriate EI criteria.
5. Rights to strike. CP Rail. Air Canada. Canada Post. These corporations were all slapped with back-to-work legislation when their union employees went on strike. Back-to-work legislation has never been so regularly exercised since the Conservatives were elected to a majority in May 2011.
6. Massive job cuts. In a tumultuous year for the economy, jobs cuts abounded from coast-to-coast. Employees in tech sectors, such as Nokia, Research in Motion and Rogers were hard hit, but the public sector is bearing the brunt of layoffs this year, it seems. By late June, four waves of layoffs hit the federal government as it tried to balance books. For Canadians, these thousands of job losses mean longer wait times at the border, fewer food inspectors, less assistance to veterans and immigrants and a thinning of government-funded research.
7. Refugee reform. In another contentious move, the government moved to crackdown on “bogus” refugees, human-smugglers and illegal arrivals. The bill reinforces penalties handed to both smugglers and asylum seekers – those who arrive illegally by boat or plane face immediate incarceration and those deemed legitimate will be barred from permanent residency or sponsoring a loved one.
8. New federal ridings. As population growth waxes and wanes from city to city, Ottawa added 30 more seats to Canada’s fastest growing provinces. Ontario will get 15 seats, British Columbia will get six seats and Alberta will receive another six. Quebec was handed another three seats to ensure that the French Canadian province’s voice is heard. So the next time you head to the polls for a federal election, you may be voting in a new riding.
9. Dismantling the Canadian Wheat Board. Farmers from across the Prairies rallied against the government’s plans to dismantle the CWB in vain last October. The CWB, formed in 1935, maintained the marketing system for wheat and barley. Ottawa, on the other hand, suggested the process held a monopoly on price-fixing and opted to move the sector into an open market system.
10. Omnibus crime bill. In less than 100 days of sitting on a majority, the Conservatives passed Bill C-10, altering crime legislation in Canada with a laundry list of changes. Critics allege the changes will lead to overcrowding in jails as tough-on-crime policies, such as mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug offenders, harsher penalties for sexual assaults and a crackdown on organized crime are enforced.
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