Work safety pays off for council

A worker at a construction site in the middle of downtown Ottawa. A worker at a construction site in the middle of downtown Ottawa. (Submitted by Dave Humpherys)

When I wrote for CBC News earlier this month about the $22.7-million contract with TransLink, the city's transit agency, we were struck by the way it's a mixed bag of good and bad news. While both the good and bad news are welcome, the one thing that seems to be missing from the story is a sense of direction from either party:

Is the mayor a reasonable guy?

Is the city doing its part to keep the lights on and people moving?

I was struck by how little people understood about how a city works and how it could be used for good and bad. It's clear that a majority of voters feel that the government needs to work harder on issues like affordable housing and transit to create jobs and grow the economy of Canada, but people are confused about the priorities of each party.

The problem is not just that we don't know how Ottawa works. We don't know enough about what's happening or where the government is going.

To help ease our confusion, the following is a timeline of the government's priorities for 2016. I've broken them down into five groups.

1. Growing the economy

A report released in December showed that income inequality in Canada has increased between 2012 and 2013. This has been partially attributed to increases in the unemployment rate, which is up from about 7.2 per cent before the recession to about 8.4 per cent in 2014. The overall number of Canadians earning more than $75,000 last year ” which is the median income for working people ” increased by 4.4 per cent while the median income of working Canadians increased by 3.1 per cent.

The federal government needs to act by helping those struggling with income inequality and also by working with provincial and municipal governments to provide jobs, increased incomes and economic opportunities for Canadians.

I'm proud that our government has been working with provincial and municipal governments to help Canadians become more productive workers and get ahead financially, but we must also get serious about addressing income inequality.

2. Growing the middle class

It's common knowledge that Canadians are not spending as much as previously hoped on higher education for middle-income earners or as much on social programs for high-income earners. In fact, our middle-income earners are spending more than ever before.

In an economy where most Canadians work part-time or stay at home, we need to create a fairer financial and economic system that ensures full-time workers do not have to rely on benefits that come only from full
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