Archive for the ‘Employment’ Category
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Liberals warn teachers, doctors over pay
Apr 12 2012
Mired in debt and at risk of an election by late May, Ontario’s minority Liberal government took dead aim at teachers and doctors Thursday in a bid for public support to keep their wage hike demands to zero. Education Minister Laurel Broten warned elementary teachers of 10,000 layoffs unless they accept a pay freeze while Health Minister Deb Matthews told physicians “I am here to stand up for taxpayers.”
Tags: budget, economy, tax
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Tax cuts would hold aging workers
April 12, 2012
At a time of continued concern about the federal deficit, it may seem strange to suggest that the way to deal with rising retirement costs and looming labour shortages in Canada is for the federal government to collect less tax from workers. But unless we undertake a major overhaul of Canada’s progressive income tax system to bring tax policy more in line with public policy, a growing number of older Canadians are going to leave the workforce, taking their skills with them and reducing their ability to save for a more secure retirement in their later years.
Tags: economy, globalization, pensions, poverty, standard of living
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All’s not lost, Ontario. The future is green, not black
Apr. 07, 2012
The province has one of the planet’s densest concentrations of institutions of higher education. If effectively employed, it could help Ontario pivot to confront the global economy’s long-term trends. The most important of these trends is a multi-decade shift from fossil fuels to carbon-free energy… The shift to carbon-free energy will be akin to what economists call a “general purpose technology” transition… It will spur the invention and delivery of a torrent of new technologies, goods and services in every sector of the global economy… Ontario can be in the vanguard of one of the biggest technological revolutions humanity will ever experience. The future is green, not black.
Tags: economy, standard of living
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Where are our jobs going to come from?
Apr 05 2012
How are we going to grow the economic pie? Where will the jobs come from?… The Harper budget did provide an answer. We go back to the future, as hewers of wood and drawers of water: Dig out as many resources as we can, extract as much oil as possible from the tarsands and lay down as many pipelines as fast as investment permits. Damn the environment and damn the pesky environmentalists… We must find new ways to grow the economy to create the jobs and the revenues we need to fend off the creeping Me-Me-ism that threatens to destroy the Canadian ethos of sharing and lead ultimately to the tribal politics of the Tea Party.
Tags: economy, standard of living
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How about ‘Buy Canadian’ for resource projects?
Mar. 14, 2012
We need a national strategy to maximize Canadian content in Canadian resource developments. Canada, for example, could impose a “Buy Canadian” requirement on future mining projects, similar in spirit to the Buy American rules… If we limit our national economic ambitions to digging stuff out of the ground, all we’ll ultimately have left is a big hole in the ground. But if we’re thoughtful and pro-active about leveraging our resource wealth into all-round economic and industrial development, we’ll have much more to show after the resources are gone.
Tags: economy, globalization, standard of living
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The caging of capitalism
Mar. 05, 2012
It has taken a century to turn capitalism from an awesome force of nature, rude, raw and rambunctious, to the subservient thing it is today… Getting the right balance between economic and political freedoms isn’t as easy as ideological rhetoric makes it appear.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
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Free-market ‘rationalism’ turned Canada from champ to chump
February 26, 2012
From Korea to Finland, China to the Netherlands, Brazil to Germany, countries which actively direct and manage growth seem to perform better in productivity, innovation, and global trade. These countries have fostered investment and innovation with focused sector strategies; deliberately favourable capital market, exchange rate, and trade policies; and sophisticated efforts to manage income distribution so that productivity growth visibly translates into higher living standards
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Employment Policy Context | No Comments »
Pain Without Gain
Feb. 19, 2012
The confidence fairy has failed to show up: none of the countries slashing spending have seen the predicted private-sector surge. Instead, the depressing effects of fiscal austerity have been reinforced by falling private spending… Why? Because spending cuts have deeply depressed their economies, undermining their tax bases to such an extent that the ratio of debt to G.D.P., the standard indicator of fiscal progress, is getting worse rather than better.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
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High levels of inequality jeopardize Canada’s ability to succeed
Feb 24 2012
There is substantial evidence that “human capital” — the knowledge and skills that make people innovative — is socially determined… A person’s health is also an important factor, both in terms of educational outcomes and productivity. Thus inequality and poverty, which are both associated with poor health outcomes, are worrying from an innovation standpoint as well… Canada ranks 15th out of 20, and drops to 16th spot in terms of child poverty… Instead of investing people, Canadian governments have given huge tax breaks to businesses in the hopes of spurring innovation.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Get Ontario to work
Feb. 22, 2012
Drummond got it wrong. Indeed, while MPPs are literally debating his proposed cuts right now, they should be considering a different type of cut: to Ontario’s long list of barriers to job creation and economic growth… Drummond dismisses any hope of robust growth, claiming that the province can’t beat 2% annually in the coming years… It’s true that Ontario wastes billions, but cuts alone won’t save it… Ontario needs a systematic attack on job-killing labour laws, time-consuming approval processes, and overly strict regulations.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Employment Policy Context | No Comments »
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