Cost of Living

The long road to economic recovery — and the roads mass transit is taking now, and in the future

The federal fiscal update suggests Canada is facing a long and uphill road to economic recovery. We find out how one mid-sized city mayor hopes to survive. Plus, can Canada's public transit systems survive the COVID-19 pandemic?
This week Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland mapped-out Canada's long road to recovery post-COVID-19. Plus, a two-part segment on the future of mass transit. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press, Ben Nelms/CBC, Evan Mitsui/CBC)

  • The Cost of Living ❤s money — how it makes (or breaks) us.
    Catch us Sundays on CBC Radio One at 12:00 p.m. (12:30 p.m. NT).

    We also repeat the following Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. in most provinces.
    Miss a segment? Find this week's stories below!

Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland assured Canadians this week that there is a light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel. But it's still going to be a long road to economic recovery and we're not yet through the most challenging parts.

Meanwhile, all three levels of government are forced to make tough choices about where to allocate their limited resources. How should they spend, where can they save and how are we going to pay for everything?

Also on the show — if you've stopped taking public transit during the pandemic, you're not alone. With ridership numbers tanking, CBC business producer James Evans takes a closer look the on-demand transportation services that are replacing mass transit in municipalities across the country.

Plus we connect with an urban transportation expert to find out what will happen to Canada's vast networks of public transportation after the pandemic.

Is it time to rethink how we move people, and could the pandemic provide an opportunity for mass transit to build back better? Hear Paul Haavardsrud's conversation with Josipa Petrunic of the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium.

Click at the top of this page to hear the whole episode or download the CBC Listen app.