Archive for the ‘Debates’ Category
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Alberta’s minimum wage hike working despite gloomy predictions
If an inexpensive meal in a restaurant can only be provided on the backs of people slaving away in the kitchen for next to nothing maybe we should consider a restaurant that charges a bit more. If we really need qualified, caring people to look after our children and our elders shouldn’t we be prepared to pay them what that is worth to us? And what about all those women who keep hotel rooms clean and tidy? Are we getting a good room rate because they don’t earn enough to properly support their families?
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Many Working Families Face Tax Trap
Working parents with children—particularly low-income families— face prohibitive tax rates that discourage taking on extra employment to get ahead, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Two-Parent Families with Children: How Effective Tax Rates Affect Work Decisions” author Alexandre Laurin finds that mothers and poorer families are the most adversely affected by this tax trap.
Tags: child care, participation, standard of living, tax, women
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Pick a fight with me Mr. Joyce, not those working the Tim Hortons pickup window
Big businesses and major corporations continue to celebrate record profits, while many people in this province juggle multiple jobs and still can’t afford the basics. CEOs enjoy massive salary increases while their workers can’t pay their bills. That’s not right, and it’s not who we are as a society. It’s past time we put people ahead of profits.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Minimum wages can make for maximum consternation
Minimum-wage policies affect about 15 per cent of the workforce, and while forgoing 60,000 jobs by the end of 2019 is not a desirable outcome for our economy, and for younger workers who stand to be hardest hit, it’s not catastrophic in a labour market that created close to 500,000 new jobs last year… None of the preceding is to say that hurriedly jacking Ontario’s minimum wage from $11.60 to $15 in less than two years… was a good idea.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Disruption we can get behind
The main innovation of most self-declared disruptors is that they’ve found a way to take an even bigger share of the wealth from the workers who produce it than was possible before we all carried around the internet in our pockets. It’s not the disruptors who are the biggest problem, it’s the inequality—in incomes, in power and in access to scarce resources—which is worsening in Canada, to the benefit of a small number of established and disruptive elites alike.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, privatization, standard of living, tax
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$14 minimum wage, free pharmacare for young people, other Ontario regulatory changes start Jan. 1
Thousands of workers will also get an extra week of vacation, and sick notes for the boss are banned among a host of changes that take effect Jan. 1… New Year’s Day sees the minimum wage surge $2.40 an hour to $14 and a new pharmacare plan — the first of its kind in Canada — called OHIP+ covering 4 million children, teens and young adults under 25… Other changes coming January 1 include: a 22.5-per-cent cut in the corporate income tax rate, from 4.5 per cent to 3.5, for small businesses to offset the higher minimum wage
Tags: budget, economy, pharmaceutical, standard of living, tax, youth
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Massive disruption is coming to the job market, and Ontario isn’t ready
Firms need to retool and rethink their entire human-capital strategy and approaches to their labour force. This includes upgrading performance-management approaches to provide appropriate incentives, better tracking of employee skills and job profiles that better reflect new requirements… Industry associations also need to support the effort, by helping to identify new skills, developing accreditations where appropriate and ensuring our key sectors are leveraging best practices globally.
Tags: economy, globalization, participation
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It’s time to stop fighting about imaginary ‘isms’
… there has never been a politician or thinker or party leader who has declared him or herself “neoliberal” – not one. The idea exists only in the minds of people opposed to it… in the 1980s… Neoliberal development theory, known for the slogan “trade not aid,” tried to help once-authoritarian countries restore functioning markets… no politician or thinker who has declared him or herself a “cultural Marxist” – not one. The idea exists only in the minds of people opposed to it.
Tags: economy, ideology
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Can the First Nations poverty trap be broken?
Federal law also limits use of on-reserve property as collateral, severely restricting Indigenous people’s ability to start businesses or get personal loans. If Canada’s current efforts at reconciliation with its First Nations are to bear fruit over the long term, creating a financial system that works for Indigenous populations must be a priority. One solution that could help: Tapping the potential of Canada’s $9.2-billion “impact investing” market.
Tags: economy, Indigenous, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Now is the time for broad reform of Canada’s productivity-killing tax system
… the Canadian tax system is a creaking, productivity-killing wreck: hugely over-complicated, and riddled with unjustified deductions and exemptions that distort economic decisions and bleed the government of revenues… Better by far to raise output — the base on which taxes are applied… by a sustained increase in national productivity… Enter tax reform. While there are other things we can do to spur productivity (for example, opening protected sectors of the economy to greater competition), tax reform is essential.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, tax
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