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Ottawa can strike a blow against precarity with stronger protections for gig workers

Monday, February 28th, 2022

What is really needed to stop the spread of misclassification is to start with the presumption that a worker is an employee, unless a case can be made that they are a bona fide independent contractor. A clear and relatively simple test can be established to determine whether someone is a legitimate contractor — i.e., do they set their own prices, perform work that is not the company’s “core” business, and have their own business doing the same work that they market independently? — or a misclassified employee. 

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Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »


The pandemic can spur long overdue change for Canada’s workers

Monday, September 7th, 2020

… it’s time to reinforce our social safety nets to ensure affordable housing, accessible child care and support for the unemployed. We didn’t need a pandemic to show us that too many workers in Canada are often living paycheque to paycheque and worried about the future of their families; that women and racialized workers often make up the majority of those doing precarious, low-paid – but essential – front-line work.

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Posted in History | No Comments »


There is no economic recovery without adequate child care

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2020

With Canadian women typically contributing about 40 per cent of household income, there can be no full economic recovery without what economist Armine Yalnizyan has dubbed a “she-covery.” Child care is key to making that possible… Child care encourages participation in the labour market… Investments in the care economy will largely pay for themselves as middle class families engage in greater labour-market participation, higher productivity, rising incomes, and increased tax revenue.

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Posted in Delivery System | No Comments »


COVID-19 has exposed wide gaps in Canada’s social-safety net

Thursday, April 9th, 2020

This pandemic has shone an unflattering light on how austerity measures have led to fewer investments in supporting individuals and families – measures that would have helped cushion the blow that many people in Canada are now feeling… While governments across the country have rushed to respond to this crisis by investing in social programs and financial assistance, when we reach the other side of COVID-19 those social programs must stay in place – societal inequities that existed before this crisis won’t disappear on their own.

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Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »


Lots at stake for working families in this election

Monday, September 2nd, 2019

Can Canadians afford a government that cares more about private corporations and tax cuts for the super-rich than it does about everyday working people? Can we risk electing a government that refuses to address the climate catastrophe? Can we accept a government that is prepared to exploit people’s fear and insecurity to fuel racism and intolerance?

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Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »


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