By Canadian Press

OECD says Liberals should hardwire quality-of-life framework into pandemic budget

Mar 11, 2021 | 10:02 AM

OTTAWA — An international group, of which Canada is a member, is urging the federal Liberals to weave quality-of-life indicators into the budgeting process as a way to justify any post-pandemic stimulus.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says the country is in a decent position to develop such a framework.

Canada already collects data on well-being and considers how budget measures could affect men and women differently.

About half of the OECD’s 37 countries measure the well-being of their citizens as part of public budgeting because of shortcomings of relying solely on economic measurements.

Internal documents show that Canadian officials have looked at indicators of how people fare economically over time, mental and physical health, social cohesion and environmental quality to supplement economic figures.

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The OECD report says once the framework is set, it should be “hardwired into budgeting” and potentially expanded to other policy areas like the tax system.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2021.

The Canadian Press