Almost a month after the election that signalled the end of a prolonged Conservative reign, Canadians are beginning to look at Justin Trudeau for firm change and policies. So far, Trudeau has been stepping up to the plate.

Oct. 19, 2015 took Canada by surprise. Although the countless anti-Harper advertisements throughout the election made it clear that Harper’s time was up, not many expected the Liberals to come out on top — let alone with a majority government.

In the last four weeks, Trudeau has set a very prominent stage for change within Canada. His new gender-equal electoral cabinet is one of the most diverse cabinets in Canadian history, including the first Muslim minister, an Aboriginal justice minister and an Inuit minister for northern fisheries.

As reported in the Star, according to Trudeau, it is pleasure to present “a cabinet that looks like Canada.” When asked about why he chose a gender-balanced cabinet, his response was simple: “Because it’s 2015.”

Although a gender-equal cabinet might seem like a fantastic step forward for Canada, for Trudeau it seems to have been long overdue.

These new positive developments are not the only way the new prime minister is creating change, however. The former position of minister of the environment has been changed to minister of environment and climate change.

Trudeau has also appointed a minister of science, as well as a minister of innovation, science and economic development. These new positions suggest we will see an increased emphasis on empirical data in government decision-making, which is a new change that has excited many scientists who were formerly silenced under previous governments.

Increased spending by the new government appears to be a worry of many Canadians, with some arguing that the economy can’t handle it. Spending can seem daunting but no matter how fragile Canada’s economy is, there are certain expenses that Canada cannot afford to ignore.

The most heavily contested spending Trudeau has promised is a multi-billion dollar investment into federal infrastructure over the next 10 years. His plan to pay for this endeavour is by running small deficits each year in the budget and using those deficits for the infrastructure.

Not many people can argue against these hopeful aspirations for creating more jobs for Canadians and thereby boosting the economy.

However, the most interesting spending plan is one that strikes closer to home for many university students. In August 2015, Trudeau came to Saskatchewan and promised to invest $2.6 billion into Aboriginal schools and post-secondary student support. Although it may appear to be a lot of money to the average Canadian, not doing so would be more costly.

In fact, the funding on reserve schools is currently 30 per cent less than public schools. This lack of funding only decreases the number of opportunities and technologies available at these schools to enhance learning, thus providing a lower quality education than city schools.

This gap in education quality is demonstrated by the fact that Aboriginal students exhibit a high school dropout rate four times higher than the national average. Not having a proper education only creates unskilled workers and results in poverty — and poverty creates a cycle of more underprivileged education.

In order to break the ongoing cycle, we need to put money into the educational system, which is exactly what Trudeau plans to do. Even with a fragile economy, not putting money into proper education for all citizens of Canada only harms the economy instead of building it up.

Next time you think of Canada’s new prime minister, get ready to think big. The future will be focused on providing support to minority groups as well as providing more representation to our multicultural nation.

With this includes long overdue spending which, as counterintuitive as it seems, will only boost our economy while helping the multicultural citizens our country is made of.

—

Kara Tastad

Photo: pmwebphotos / Flickr