Archive for the ‘Debates’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
Comeau ruling about more than beer and the Supreme Court got it right
… at any given point, one Canadian province or another will be leading the way on health, safety, energy-efficiency, or carbon standards. Thanks to Comeau, the innovators have a shield to protect their public-interest regulations from section 121 challenges. Otherwise, provinces with better standards would risk being dragged down to the lowest common denominator by those with lax or inexistent regulations.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Resource jobs are sustaining Canada’s middle class. Period.
To maintain public support for pro-growth initiatives such as trade agreements and for doing Canada’s part in limiting climate change, we need to ensure that economic growth is felt by everybody in society. Economic growth that brings everyone along gives all families a stake in Canadian economic success. This increased economic security energizes social forces that pull us together. The polarizing alternatives to our social model can be seen in other countries
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
‘Unretirement’: Why many Americans try retirement and then change their minds
A 2010 analysis… found that more than a quarter of retirees later resumed working… in 2017… almost 40 per cent of workers over 65 had previously, at some point, retired… the Bureau of Labor Statistics supports that observation. It reported that the proportion of Americans over age 65 who were employed, full-time or part time, had climbed steadily from 12.8 per cent in 2000 to 18.8 per cent in 2016. More than half were working full time.
Tags: economy, participation, pensions
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Highlights of the Ontario budget
– $822 million extra to hospitals, funding more cardiac and cancer surgeries, chemotherapy, MRIs and other services; – $575 million to make drugs completely free for seniors; – $800 million over two years for drug and dental coverage for people without insurance (up to $400 for singles, $600 for couples, $50 for each child); – $2.1 billion over four years for mental health care; – $2.2 billion over three years, providing some parents free child care; – $1 billion over three years for a seniors home-care benefit of $750 a year…
Tags: budget, child care, economy, ideology, mental Health, pharmaceutical, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Ontario’s debt has exploded. Is the province in trouble?
Today, Ontario has an operating surplus that amounts to 4.2 per cent of its adjusted operating revenues – or in plain language, it’s running a surplus before accounting for interest expenses on the debt… Growth gives a big boost to government revenues and also helps temper the climb in its debt-to-GDP ratio. But with interest rates starting to rise, the fear now is that Ontario’s interest expense will jump. (Interest currently consumes about 8 per cent of provincial government revenues.)
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Immigration alone can’t keep Canada young
If longer work life and other responses to aging makes us more prosperous, however, we will more easily attract immigrants and retain workers who can contribute to our prosperity – a virtuous circle.
Higher immigration may be good for many reasons, but it cannot keep Canada young. Other policies to ease the demographic transition, notably encouraging people to work longer, hold out at least as much promise for boosting living standards.
Tags: economy, globalization, immigration, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Higher Immigration Cannot Keep Canada Young
… no increase within the realm of practicality can prevent population aging. Other policies to ease the demographic transition, notably encouraging people to work longer, are at least as powerful – and, further, would complement changes to immigration policy by improving Canada’s attractiveness to people willing and able to contribute to the Canadian economy.
Tags: economy, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Hydro One privatization is the reason voters distrust Kathleen Wynne
The sell-off of public goods is the quintessence of neoliberalism… Ontario Hydro was a public undertaking funded by the public that returned benefits to all. You can’t sell it, you can only swipe it and hand it over, as Wynne did. The buyers won’t do anything to improve it; they’ll just squeeze it to extract profits. Classical economists of the 1700s and 1800s would’ve called them rentseekers — the ugliest players in capitalism.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, privatization
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
A new era for the workplace – shorter work weeks – is starting now
Ironically, the fact that technology has made work 24/7 for many may make the case for shorter official weeks even stronger. That the wall between world and leisure is effectively blurred means that official number of hours actually worked, particularly by white-collar employees, has little to do with the number of hours that they are at work. Granting shorter workweeks may not cost employers as much as it might seem…
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Chrystia Freeland Wants to Fix the Twenty-first Century
For 2018, which is Canada’s year as G7 president, the Trudeau government promises to make women’s rights and climate action priority issues. Freeland says that, in the coming years, she hopes to focus on several human rights emergencies… “How I think we need to do Canadian foreign policy,” says Freeland, “is to know what our values are, build coalitions around those things, and then be constantly alert for situations in the world where, by acting, we can make a difference.” The liberal order doesn’t begin and end with nafta.
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Recent Comments