‘There’s no way that the market economy is going to snap back from this catastrophe.’
From the CBC’s Sunday Edition, hosted by Michael Enright
More than three million people in Canada have lost their jobs since the pandemic started. Another two and a half million have seen dramatic cuts to their working hours.
The economic shocks from the COVID-19 shutdown have been staggering. And the government has turned to unprecedented levels of spending in response, to try to keep workers, families and businesses afloat.
As calls to rebuild the economy grow louder, economist Jim Stanford says we need the federal government to continue to be big and bold — and to keep mobilizing everything.
Jim Stanford is an economist and the director of the Centre for Future Work, a research institute with operations in Canada and Australia.
“There’s no way that the market economy is going to snap back from this catastrophe,” he told The Sunday Edition‘s Michael Enright. “It’s going to need a post-war reconstruction program just like we had after World War II, and that implies a much larger role for government going forward.”
Stanford is an economist and the director of the Centre for Future Work, a research institute with operations in Canada and Australia. He previously served as an economist and director of policy with Unifor, and before that with the Canadian Auto Workers. He is also the author of Economics for Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism, which has been translated into six languages.
Attached are excerpts from his conversation with Enright, which have been edited for clarity and condensed.