Archive for the ‘Debates’ Category
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Anti-poverty group calls for minimum wage increase to $14 an hour
Members of ACORN Ottawa say almost 20 per cent of Ontario workers were forced below the poverty line in the three years since the provincial Liberals froze minimum wage at $10.25. ACORN’s provincewide campaign is calling for the rate to be immediately increased to $14, reflecting the rise in inflation since 2010… ACORN Ottawa chose to target Meilleur because they believe she was instrumental in the Liberal’s decision to freeze the minimum wage.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
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Why capitalism has time to save itself
One of the basic reasons for our anemic global growth is that consumers aren’t consuming. Capital, in pursuit of uber profits, has disconnected from the needs of societies and nations. It’s allowed wealth and wages to concentrate at the very top where job creation and consumption is limited. Some corporate leaders are beginning to see that reviving demand means putting more money back into the hands of middle and working class families.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Taxpayers are subsidizing employers
The economy depends on people spending money. If someone is paid so little they can’t afford the basics, they not only will not have much to contribute to the economy and taxes, they will also become a burden on the taxpayer… California is working on a law to fine Walmart every time an employee has to rely on medicaid. This is that you get when you don’t pay people enough to support themselves… Is that really what you want?
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Record public sector layoffs slam Canada’s job market in July
The Harper government promised to save $5.2-billion in federal public administration costs over three years in an effort to balance the federal budget by 2015. Part of that plan included eliminating 19,200 jobs from the sector, or about 4.8% of the workforce… “There were two big areas of decline. One was in actual public administration and there was also a decline in healthcare and social services — which tend to be public sector workers,”
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living
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Minimum wage needs to be re-engineered
… the advisory panel… shows promising signs of reforming the minimum wage as one of government’s most effective tools for achieving at least a semblance of economic justice, along with the social safety net, job-training programs, and income supplements… where consumer spending drives 54 per cent of GDP growth, it just makes sense to put more money in the pockets of those who quickly spend on necessities the additional pay they earn.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Ontario’s working poor pay with their health
The working poor, who have seen both wages and working conditions deteriorate, have experienced the sharpest decline in their health, says the study by Toronto’s Wellesley Institute… “the health gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ has widened… But it was more pronounced in Ontario, where the social safety net has deteriorated and bad jobs are getting worse… “this kind of work is making people sick and that health inequities are increasing,”
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, standard of living
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Market growth is unsustainable
We cannot have unending sales growth, especially of items that use finite materials and resources… without threatening the very planet we call home. Permanent growth is unsustainable. To expect it and demand it from our largest corporations is tantamount to insanity… we need to rethink how much power we allow the invisible money men of the stock market. They are leading us down an unsustainable path.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
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Memo to Chris Alexander, Canada’s new immigration minister
We are bringing 250,000 immigrants a year and tens of thousands of guest workers when 1.3 million Canadians don’t have jobs, another million are underemployed or have given up looking for work, and the unemployment rate for both the young as well as new immigrants is twice the national average. Of the immigrants who do have jobs, three in four are not using the education and skills for which they were picked as immigrants.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, immigration, participation, standard of living
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We’re missing jobs, not skills, Mr. Kenney
The number of jobs unfilled because of a genuine lack of qualified applicants is surely fewer than 100,000…. Even officially… there are more than six unemployed Canadians for each job vacancy. Practically, the ratio is more like 20 to one. Job creation should occupy 95 per cent of Mr. Kenney’s attention. Instead, he will likely focus on more social engineering: adjusting the expectations, attitudes and flexibility of the unemployed, rather than trying to stimulate job creation.
Tags: economy, ideology, immigration, participation, standard of living, youth
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Ontario minimum wage panel to look at more than just inflation
The six-member panel will hold public consultations across the province, engage Ontarians through the Internet and social media and conduct an in-depth review of how minimum wages are calculated in other provinces and around the world… It will report in six months… some jurisdictions use inflation to calculate minimum wage hikes because “it’s simple and easy to administer. But that ignores two other vital factors, one is the overall growth in the economy and the second is productivity on the job
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
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