Archive for the ‘Debates’ Category
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The problem with productivity
Productivity and competitiveness matter. They are important economic indicators and key to the success of private sector business. But they make up only a portion of who we are as citizens. And focusing the budget discussion narrowly on productivity reduces Canadians to our economic “value” as workers. The committee’s framework has failed to account for personal fulfillment, community well-being and ecological integrity.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living
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Canada wants ‘progressive’ trade deal with U.S., Mexico, Freeland says
Canada seeks to make the updated deal more “progressive” through five key provisions including: stronger labour safeguards; strengthening environmental provisions to protect the right to address climate change; adding a new chapter on gender rights; adding an Indigenous chapter; and reforming the investor-state dispute settlement process to protect governments’ right to regulate “in the public interest.”
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, participation
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NAFTA talks may threaten Canada’s steps toward universal pharmacare
If Canada is to have universal pharmacare anytime in its future, NAFTA renegotiations must prioritize the protection of evidence-based coverage decision-making and price negotiations that will be essential to create a system that functions effectively and sustainably. Canadian negotiators must be ready to deflect the tired rhetoric of U.S. trade negotiators and the pharmaceutical industry lobby, who will likely claim that eliminating value assessments and price negotiations… will somehow magically “improve access.”
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
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‘Canadians are concerned’: Private data on the table in NAFTA negotiations
The personal information of Canadians will be on the negotiating table when North American free trade talks begin this month. The United States has served notice it wants an end to measures that restrict cross-border data flows, or require the use or installation of local computing facilities… Privacy advocates say that means trouble for Canada’s ability to shield sensitive information such as health or financial data from the prying eyes of foreign agencies by storing it in computer servers on Canadian soil.
Tags: economy, globalization, jurisdiction, rights
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Mines can create Indigenous middle class in Ring of Fire
Finalizing a road into the Ring of Fire with community spurs will ignite the economic development and jobs that the impoverished Indigenous communities in the Ring of Fire desperately need… 150 years of government support has done little to create economic prosperity in their impoverished communities… sustainable mineral development of their resources can be the foundation of an Indigenous middle-class that they so rightly deserve.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
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Minimum wages: The small-town view
A lot of well-meaning people argue that businesses that can’t afford to pay a decent living wage shouldn’t be in business at all… But then I look around my small town, where so many local business owners – including the organic farms that sell us such tasty, wholesome, righteous food – are barely scraping by. They all want to reduce poverty and inequality. But raising the minimum wage won’t do that. It will only make their lives that much more precarious.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Killing the entrepreneurial spirit
“The government’s proposals eliminate many of the bona-fide tax planning strategies that currently reward the business owner for risking his/her capital, for creating thousands of jobs across Canada and for contributing to Canada’s social security safety net, which is generally accessed by the middle and lower class. “The government’s actions will increase the overall tax burden for hard-working business owners and their private corporations and may create a disincentive for those who are considering pursuing their innovative and entrepreneurial spirit in Canada.”
Tags: economy, ideology, privatization, tax
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The case for raising the minimum wage
The comparative data suggest that, at a minimum, there is no consistent, long-term, economy-wide trade-off between a decent wage floor and jobs. Indeed, very low wages may discourage workers from accepting jobs, as seems to be the case for the many low skilled, male workers in the United States who have abandoned the job market in recent years… The main way the economy responds to a higher wage floor is through higher labour productivity or higher output per hour worked.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
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Shrewd businesses support $15 minimum wage and decent work
A boost to $15 an hour also gets low-wage workers closer to realizing the benefits of the productivity gains that have been made over the last 40 years. Between 1965 and 1975, the minimum wage roughly tracked productivity gains as both increased over time. However, since 1976, the two have become decoupled and minimum wage earners have not been seeing gains in their pay cheque anywhere near what the economy has seen in terms of productivity growth.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living
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Cancel the panic: Canadians have been borrowing like crazy for good reason
… even with any small forecast increases, interest rates remain low and the Canadian economy has performed adequately in terms of employment with relatively low unemployment rates. Moreover, while these macroeconomic factors are of concern, they should also be kept in context. Despite record high levels of household-sector debt, there are also record high levels of net worth.
Tags: economy, ideology, pensions, standard of living
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