We estimate that 100,000 Canadians will be lifted out of poverty by expanding the Canada Workers Benefit. This will particularly impact women, racialized Canadians, Indigenous persons and youth. Women accounted for 53.7% of year-over-year job losses between March 2020 and February 2021, due in part to the high number of women working in the service sector. Similarly, racialized Canadians, youth, Indigenous persons and LGBTQ2 people are overrepresented in low-paying jobs.
The impact of COVID -19 has also been hard felt in the tourism and hospitality industry, as well as in the arts and culture sectors. Women represent half of workers in the tourism industry and youth make up a third. Similarly, women represent more than half of workers in the arts and culture sector, though women of colour and Indigenous women tend to be underrepresented. The support programs we are proposing will therefore directly benefit these groups.
Expanding borrower eligibility of the Canada Small Business Financing Program to include non-profit and charitable social enterprises, will not only benefit women —who represent 80% of those working in the sector —but it will also contribute to the growth of organizations working on poverty reduction, systemic racism, or accessibility, serving Indigenous persons, LGBTQ2people, newcomers or racialized Canadians, and people with disabilities.
With an increased reliance on the internet to access services, work remotely and attend school, rural communities in Canada have been disproportionately affected by the digital divide. Just under 50% of rural communities have access to Broadband at 50/10 Mbps and the CRTC estimates that only 30% of First Nations households have access to internet. Ensuring that companies accelerate the roll-out of their broadband projects will contribute to the economic growth of those communities and the wellbeing of Canadians.