Canadian Labour Congress President Bea Bruske Meets Deputy Prime Minister Freeland to Discuss Help for Workers
Bea Bruske, Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) President, met this week in Ottawa with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to discuss the challenges working people are still facing as Canada starts on the long road to an economic recovery.
According to Statistics Canada’s latest jobs report, the unemployment rate is still 1.2 percent over February 2020 and about 2.5 million are either looking for work, not working enough hours, or have been pushed out of the labour market altogether, with lower paid people relying on precarious experiencing the lion’s share of these struggles.
While thanking Minister Freeland for the meeting and expressing appreciation the support the Trudeau government has extended to working families to date, President Bruske commented that, “Our economy still hasn’t met the government’s own benchmarks, their own fiscal guardrails they set for Canada’s labour market…With so many still unemployed, many for over a year or more, and so many others still unable to qualify for EI – there remains a critical need for emergency supports like the CRB.”