Humans aren’t widgets, and Canadian workers are not in ‘short supply’
Saturday, February 11th, 2023
Tiff Macklem, Governor of the Bank of Canada, also cites employers’ complaints as justification for painful interest rate hikes. He aims to ‘solve’ the labour shortage by deliberately raising unemployment… The federal government, too, is catering to employers by increasing immigration targets… Properly planned and supported immigration is good for the economy and for society. But importing masses of workers just to make life easier for employers is the wrong way to do it
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, immigration, standard of living
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How workers are being sacrificed to a doctrine that intentionally keeps unemployment high
Saturday, December 24th, 2022
The economy risks serious recession from an interest shock that was neither necessary, nor effective in reducing inflation… Hundreds of thousands of Canadians could lose their jobs, and many their homes. Why? They’re being sacrificed to visibly reassert a doctrine that keeps unemployment deliberately high – not just to control inflation, but more importantly to control workers.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
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A self-inflicted recession and a pointless sacrifice to a mystical two per cent god
Sunday, July 3rd, 2022
With unemployment low, we now face a devil’s choice between continued inflation and deliberate recession. We need other strategies for motivating growth when needed, and slowing it when it’s not. Other tools could be invoked right now to control inflation, such as strategic price controls, targeted taxes on corporations and high-income earners, and low-cost or free public services. But the dominant orthodoxy demands monetary austerity, and nothing else.
Tags: economy
Posted in Debates, Policy Context | No Comments »
Workers didn’t cause this inflation. And they shouldn’t have to pay for it
Sunday, May 29th, 2022
So long as the actual causes of inflation are addressed (by fixing supply chains, energy prices, and housing), inflation would then decelerate, even as wages keep up. Contingent wage protections (like cost-of-living adjustments) would also maintain the purchasing value of wages, without prompting higher inflation. To the limited extent that domestic demand pressures are reinforcing higher prices, it is better to use more focused and fair contractionary measures to dampen spending.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Don’t be fooled by Ontario’s ‘minimum wage’ for gig workers
Friday, March 4th, 2022
Ontario’s manipulative ‘minimum wage’ is an attempt to forestall genuine legislative and regulatory changes… workers at gig platforms already have the right to unionize through normal channels, and achieve genuine collective bargaining rights—they don’t need any special ‘law’, just clarification that they are indeed workers (whether employees or dependent contractors) not independent businesses.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
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National child-care plan would accelerate post-COVID recovery
Sunday, January 3rd, 2021
… while most of the initiative and fiscal support for national ELCC is coming from Ottawa, provincial governments would benefit enormously from the new system. Provincial GDP would grow, tens of thousands of jobs would be created, and provincial revenues would grow by $8-14 billion per year… In the wake of COVID-19, Canada needs the economic benefits of high-quality, universal ELCC more urgently than ever. Investing in a national plan is an economic “no-brainer” that will pay for itself.
Tags: child care, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living, women
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
A national child-care program would be a boon to Canada’s post-COVID recovery — none more so than Ontario’s
Saturday, November 28th, 2020
Ontario’s failure to build a 21st-century child-care system is holding back provincial economic recovery. Its patchwork arrangement of overstretched group care, tax-subsidized nannies and sky-high fees squanders tens of billions of dollars of GDP, income and tax revenue. Ontario, and other lagging provinces, have a golden opportunity to fix this problem — and in so doing accelerate Canada’s reconstruction after COVID-19.
Tags: child care, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living, tax, women
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There’s no shortage of labour. Employers just need to improve their offer
Saturday, June 13th, 2020
Employers’ complaints of “labour shortages” are not credible; and a more universal approach to income protection (as partly reflected in the CERB) should be maintained. Ultimately, we must find a better “incentive to work” than compelling people to accept low wages, uncertain hours, and risk of infection on pain of destitution.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, immigration, participation, standard of living
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Some of our most undervalued workers now among our most valuable as pandemic forces rethink of what jobs are critical
Saturday, March 21st, 2020
Millions of so-called “low skill” workers are also indispensable to our well-being, possibly even our survival… They have to keep working: both to earn income (most wouldn’t even qualify for Employment Insurance), and to serve us… Indeed, the precarious insecurity of these supposedly “menial” jobs now poses major risks to the rest of society.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
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Employers complain about a ‘skills gap’ in Canada. But employers are part of the problem
Thursday, February 20th, 2020
… It’s time for employers to rediscover the value of investing in their own training programs. Government must play a role, of course, but by prodding employers to do a better job, rather than letting them off the hook entirely… And aggressive training plans should be a core feature of any government-supported industrial programs, technology grants or infrastructure projects.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation
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