Archive for the ‘Debates’ Category
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Canadian banking can still learn from the U.S.
Friday, April 30th, 2010
Apr 30 2010
… there’s a small, mission-driven sector within America’s vast banking and financial system that remains in under-supply in Canada: Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFIs for short. Broadly speaking, CDFIs are U.S. Treasury-certified, specialized financial institutions that serve low income households and economically distressed regions… The benefit of this network is that the government is able to stimulate hard-to-reach parts of the market by providing equity capital to these financial intermediaries, who in turn originate affordable loans to low-income borrowers.
Tags: economy, participation, standard of living
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Dalton McGuinty’s pretend economics
Monday, April 19th, 2010
April 19, 2010
Mr. McGuinty and Ms. Matthews aren’t dealing in reality. Rather than give the industry time to adjust to the massive change being forced on its finances, the province prefers to grandstand, announcing sudden changes and then pretending there won’t be any pain. Mr. McGuinty’s government has increased its own expenditures every year its been in office because it is incapable of even the most basic restraint on spending, yet expects drug chains and landlords to swallow millions in revenue cuts at the drop of a hat.
Tags: Health, pharmaceutical
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High noon for pension reform
Sunday, April 18th, 2010
April 15, 2010
The president of KPA Advisory Services Ltd. is pushing for a supplement to the Canada Pension Plan that would benefit the 75% of Canadians who don’t have employer pensions. His focus on improving prospects for middle-income Canadians earning $30,000 to $100,000 makes it one of the leading contenders for reform.
Tags: pensions, standard of living
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Coming soon: the great retirement shock
Saturday, April 17th, 2010
April 17, 2010
… pension experts believe the only answer is some version of soft coercion. That is, you must strongly encourage people to save for their own retirement throughout their working lifetime, while preserving some element of choice… But it turns out most people don’t want to choose. They’re just not that knowledgeable or interested… Yet, the truth is that if we want to cushion the coming retirement shock, it’s going to cost us plenty.
Tags: pensions
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Can Canada own the pension podium?
Monday, April 12th, 2010
Apr. 09, 2010
It is a fact that three-quarters of our private-sector work force does not have an employment-based pension plan. A significant proportion of these workers are not saving enough to maintain their living standard post-retirement… Some observers believe that tinkering with the funding rules and creating a national pension insurance scheme can make these solvency problems go away. These are illusions.
Tags: pensions
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Corporate tax cuts necessary for economy
Monday, April 12th, 2010
Apr 12 2010
Unless policies change, businesses across Canada will be hit by a series of increased payroll taxes, starting in 2011 when the current employment insurance premium freeze ends. If these planned increases proceed, they will make it harder for businesses large and small to maintain their current employees, let alone hire new ones… Similarly, instead of proposing to renege on promised corporate tax reductions that businesses are using to decide whether to invest in Canada, opposition parties need to consider how paying $5 billion to $6 billion more per year will help Canadian companies survive international competition that intensifies by the day.
Tags: economy, globalization
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All talk, no action on pension reform
Saturday, April 10th, 2010
Apr 10 2010
Flaherty announced “online consultations” with a special email address (ris-consultations-srr@fin.gc.ca) so you can drop him a line. But the bottom line is that this looks suspiciously like another ruse by a government that is buying time in tough times. It took a near economic collapse to make Canadians realize they are sleepwalking to retirement shortfalls if nothing is done to shore up vulnerable pensions, volatile investments, outdated bankruptcy laws – and a gaping hole that leaves nearly two-thirds of Canadians without an employer pension plan.
Tags: pensions
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What stimulus?
Friday, April 9th, 2010
April 08, 2010
Even if there is a Keynesian multiplier effect, there just hasn’t been that much government spending to be multiplied… Does that mean government had no helpful effect in bringing about the recovery? No. Taxes automatically eased back and employment insurance kicked in as the recession hit and these automatic stabilizers doubtless help explain why private consumption didn’t sag more. … even we who at the financial brink in fall 2008 did rediscover our inner Keynesian nevertheless realize there is a time and place for desperate measures.
Tags: budget, economy
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Corporations stash cash but take no risks
Monday, April 5th, 2010
Apr 05 2010
Carney had the nerve to say what everyone on Bay Street knows: The largest Canadian corporations are doing a terrible job at increasing productivity and, therefore, at raising Canadian living standards and competing internationally. He noted that productivity had actually declined through this recession when during every other recession it has gone up. He left no doubt who was responsible: “In general, while there is always more to do, governments have put in place conditions for a productivity revival. Business, thus far, has disappointed.”
Tags: economy, globalization, standard of living
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Lower hurdles for foreign professions
Monday, April 5th, 2010
Apr 05 2010
Ontario, with a shortage of skilled workers and an aging population, needs skilled immigrants to find places in their professions. …skilled immigrants still face unnecessary barriers to get licensed, and they earn far less than their Canadian-educated counterparts do. Some are so disillusioned they say that, had they known how bad it would be, they never would never have come… Augustine rightly calls that an “alarming” message that Ontario cannot afford to ignore.
Tags: immigration
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