he news story by Bill Curry “Liberals to unveil federal budget, economic package worth $1 billion in response to COVID-19” published in The Globe and Mail on March 11th 2020, summarizes the government of Canada’s current response to the global coronavirus pandemic. This article was chosen as it relates to the unit on ‘Political Economy of the Global North’ discussed in lecture and illustrates the current political economy of Canada. This essay will begin by briefly summarizing the chosen news article, followed by a critical analysis and assessment of the main points that will be presented. To conclude the essay, an analysis on the importance and relevance of the article will be introduced in relation to comparative politics and the limitations of the article will be analyzed.

In the article written by Curry, he states that the government of Canada has announced a national response to the global coronavirus pandemic in the form of improved employment insurance (“EI”) benefits for employees and an economic package worth $1.1 billion in order to combat the negative economic consequences of the virus. The economic package has allotted “$275 million for medical research and vaccine development” , waived mandatory waiting periods for accessing EI benefits, and additionally increased work sharing programs to further benefit employees affected by the crisis. As stated in the article, Canada’s projected GDP growth has dropped significantly as a result of the pandemic; however, the government of Canada has assured they will take the necessary measures to safeguard the economy by “increasing lending capacity…of the Business Development Bank of Canada and Export Development Canada.” The article illustrates the current political economy of Canada and the governments need to intervene and implement policies to protect their citizens, economy, and country as a whole in response to external market pressures.

As Canada is a capitalistic liberal market economy that relies on market relationships to govern economic activity , the government plays a critical role in providing essential services to citizens and maintaining properly functioning market relationships by responding appropriately to market fluctuations. As noted in the article, the coronavirus prompted a political and economic response from the Canadian government, one in which they had to respond to the fluctuations and current external influences of the market and make suitable decisions for the countries economy based on these factors. Also noted in the article are the government’s plans to increase EI benefits and work sharing programs; this is an example of Keynesian economic policies taking place as the government is recognizing the potential for a market failure and taking precautions to avoid this . The article also notes the effects of the pa