Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s speech to a room full of political and financial elites in Hamburg, Germany recently made one thing obvious: the election of Donald Trump has Trudeau reaching back into the populist playbook that won him a majority government in 2015, but this time for a different reason.

He talked about the unfairness of companies posting record profits while their workers face increasingly precarious working conditions. The necessity of paying people a living wage, and of corporations paying their fair share. Campaign-style rhetoric that actually underlined how far short Trudeau’s government has fallen when it comes to delivering the “real change” his party promised.

Spring is around the corner. Which means it is budget season in Ottawa, and the usual suspects are lining up to make their case for federal dollars. But this year is very different, and budget 2017 shouldn’t be any ordinary budget.

It has never been more clear: budget 2017 must be one devoted to progress for working people, and right now, there are two glaring barriers to that progress that need immediate attention.

First, the government has to address the long list of tax loopholes that almost exclusively benefit the wealthy.

A deduction for money earned from stock options costs our treasury up to $1 billion every year — and two-thirds of it is pocketed by just 75 superrich individuals. This loophole should be abolished right away.

Deductions for capital gains let corporations pay half the tax on money they make from investments — even though everyday people pay tax on 100 per cent of their paycheques. Meanwhile, private investment in the economy has been stagnant and corporate surpluses are going unspent. It’s time for this to change too.

Let’s also remember that some of the biggest multinational corporations operating in Canada do so without paying any tax at all. Companies such as Uber, who have exploited the digital economy for years to avoid paying tax in Canada, have to start paying their fair share.

And let’s be clear: these loopholes are not just symbols of a time where there was one set of rules for the ultra-wealthy and another for the rest of us. They represent billions of dollars in revenue that aren’t being spent on a national child-care program, or strengthening health care, or funding a shift to a green economy, or ending boil-water advisories in First Nations communities. Billions of dollars that could be put toward reducing inequality and making sure working people have a decent quality of life.

Second, it’s no secret that the nature of our economy is changing. Workers young and old are feeling the ground shift under their feet.

Across Canada, part-time, temporary, or contract jobs without benefits, workplace protections, or income security are rapidly becoming the norm. Four in 10 Canadians are working in low wage employment. In 2004, in Ontario, 1-in-5 workers held a “low-wage” job — meaning 1.5 times the minimum wage or less. Today, it’s 1-in-3. Half of workers in the GTA and Hamilton hold “precarious” jobs.

Whether public or private sector, urban or rural, the rise of precarity is affecting everyone.

Library workers, graphic designers, teaching assistants, trades people — you name it. Proud professionals who do important work and love what they do, who are increasingly forced to live paycheque to paycheque, without benefits, and always without assurances that they’ll have a job next year, next month, or even next week.

Whether it’s through broadening access to employment insurance or pensions to cover more precarious workers, or working with the provinces and territories on a strategy to evolve Canada’s labour laws into the 21st century, budget 2017 must confront the rise of precarious employment head on.

Canada is not immune to the kinds of anxiety and anger that rocked the political order to the south just a few months ago. And it’s going to take more than words to counteract the root causes.

The days of governments handing out massive subsidies to the already-rich while telling everybody else the cupboard is bare are over. Trudeau acknowledged this himself in Hamburg when he said: “increasing inequality has made citizens distrust their own governments.”

I’m sure by now the prime minister has realized that making promises isn’t the hard part; governing and following through is. Writing budgets and making choices on priorities is always tough. But, luckily for Trudeau, this choice should be an easy one.

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Canadians shouldn’t have to wait any longer for Trudeau to keep his promises; the disappointments are starting to pile up. Budget 2017 is the prime minister’s best opportunity to shun that growing cynicism, reintroduce fairness to our tax system and, more importantly, make a serious difference in the lives of everyday, working Canadians. Let’s hope he seizes it.

Mark Hancock is the national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

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