Liberals begin 3-day cabinet retreat focused on cost of living, economy

The Liberal cabinet began three days of meetings in Vancouvertoday to hash out the government'sfall playbook, with the rising cost of living and the state of the economytoppingthe agenda asParliament prepares forthe return of MPs.

"Our focus this week, as we kick off what will be a busy and important fall of parliamentary work, is on the economy, is hearing from Canadians, is working with Canadians to solve the very real pressures they're facing," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday at an event in Squamish, B.C.

"Whether it's to make sure that we're growing the economy, making sure we're creating good jobsnow and into the future, or directly supporting people and the challenges they are facing around the cost of living, that is our focus."

Trudeau saidhis cabinet will use the meetings in Vancouver this week to come up with ways to deliver relief toCanadians struggling with the rising cost of living.

Delivering that relief onceParliament resumes on Sept. 19 will involve balancing the priorities ofbothLiberal supportersandthe party's parliamentary partners in the NDP.

Earlier this year, the Liberals and New Democratsstruck a deal committing the NDP to voting with the minority Liberal governmentin the House of Commons on confidence votes until June of 2025, in exchange for the government meeting a number of benchmarks along the way.

The New Democrats say that at least two of those commitments must be met before the Christmas break if the Liberals want the deal to stay intact.

The NDP wants to see the first stage of a universal dental care plan roll out, initially covering families with kids under 12 that earn a family income of less than $90,000. The party also wants a one-time top-up to bring the Canada Housing Benefit up to $500, and says it wants that increaserenewed in coming years if cost of living challenges remain.

The Canada Housing Benefit, developed by the federal government and the provinces, was launched in 2020 with joint funding of $4 billion over eight years. The benefit is meantto provide direct financial support to Canadians who are struggling withhousing needs.

An NDP official speaking on background said that up to two million Canadians could benefit from the means-tested payments, with the federal government having earmarked $475 million in the budget forthe initiative.

A floor, not a ceiling

The deal between the NDP and the Liberals set the end of this year as the deadline for both initiatives. New Democrats say that, so far, it appearsthose commitments will be fulfilledin time.

"On both those components, we are pretty close to where we want to go in negotiations," a senior NDP official told CBC news on background. "I am confident that we will have something to tell media by the end of the month."

The NDP regards thephase one dental care commitment as only a first step. If the Liberals want their deal with the NDP to remain in place, New Democrats say, they must extend dental care to under 18s, seniors and people with disabilitiesby the end of 2023, before full implementation of the program by 2025.

The NDP says that these two commitments are a floor, not a ceiling and they will be using opposition days, in-person meetingsand private members bills to push for other measures this fall to help Canadians deal with the rising cost of living.

Amongthoseinitiatives, the party says,will be a push to help families with one-time boosts to the GST rebate and the Canada Child Benefit,a call formore funding to help workers transition into green jobs, and a demand for further climate action.

Helping Canadians cope with inflation

While it's not clear which approachesthe Liberal cabinetmight discussbeyond boosting the housing benefit, Prime Minister Trudeau said last week that his government is always looking for ways to ease the burden of inflation.

"We have historic low unemployment right now, lots of people have jobs, but there is still real challenges and we are going to continue to do what is necessary to support vulnerable Canadians as we move forward," Trudeau said.

The prime minister added that, whatever his government does next to address the cost of living, itwill be "careful not to do things that will accelerate or exacerbate the inflation crisis we're facing."

One proposal in the NDP/Liberal deal would re-focusthe Rental Construction Financing Initiative (RCFI)onaffordable units.

The RCFI is a government program that provides low-cost financing to developers to help them build rental units in areas where the supply is low.

The government official said that Canadians should expect some announcements on housing and the cost of living focusing on British Columbiabefore, during and after the caucus retreat.

Building a green future

In the media release announcing the cabinet retreat, the PMO said that ministers also will discuss how thegovernment can build "a green, healthy future for everyone."

The government official said that this discussion will stretch across ministries as the government looks to ensure there are well-paidjobs in both the electric vehicle industry andthe oilpatch.

New Democrats said they havebeen meeting with workers in the oilpatchwho fear for their children's economic futures as the economy moves away from fossil fuels.

The NDP saidthat while it will continue to press the Liberal government to act in that area, it won'tthreaten the deal even though there are some 2022 timelines requiring action in the agreement's text.

The deal requires that theLiberals "move forward" oncreating aClean Jobs Training Centre to support, retrain and redeploy workers by this year, but the text of the deal is notspecific on whathas to happen for the deal to survive.