Archive for the ‘Economy/Employment’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
A solution to Canada’s housing crisis has already been built — we just need to use it
Thursday, September 25th, 2025
While some new construction will be necessary why not use Canada’s vast and underutilized existing building stock? The scale of this untapped resource is staggering. According to a 2021 study, 8.7 per cent of homes — 1.34 million units — sit vacant across the country… Beyond these empty homes… over 100,000 short-term rental units could become long-term dwellings with proper regulation. This would not just address supply, it would make things more affordable…
Tags: budget, economy, housing, jurisdiction
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
OPSEU/SEFPO sounds alarm on accelerated agenda to gut public education through Ford’s $2.5 billion unaccountable spending spree via the Skills Development Fund
Friday, September 19th, 2025
… if our public college system hemorrhaging jobs while shutting down hundreds upon hundreds of programs, then where are our public dollars going? The answer… is a government-led agenda to systematically defund Ontario colleges, while committing $2.5 billion in public dollars since 2020 to Ontario’s “Skills Development Fund,” a provincial funding envelope designed to cultivate non-college training programs.
Tags: budget, economy, Education, privatization
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Immigration Policy Still in Need of a Course Correction
Tuesday, September 16th, 2025
Immigration policy should raise average human capital, rather than focusing narrowly on filling short-term labour market gaps… or meeting non-economic objectives… Policy should also be transparent, predictable, and oriented toward long-term prosperity, ensuring that economic immigrants have strong skills, earnings potential, and integration prospects.
Tags: economy, immigration, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Yes, Canada should (mostly) end our temporary foreign worker programs
Wednesday, September 10th, 2025
Make it easy for businesses to recruit from overseas for the most highly skilled and highly paid positions. Make it impossible to bring in temporary workers from overseas for low-wage and low-skill work… hundreds of thousands of temporary foreign workers to make pizzas, stock shelves or deliver food orders? At a time of rising unemployment and near-record youth unemployment, it makes less sense than ever.
Tags: economy, globalization, immigration, youth
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Why a bad deal on tariffs with Donald Trump is worse than no deal
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025
… trying to portray a deal with continued tariffs as some kind of “victory” for Canada, because the stated tariff may seem lower than other countries, is dangerously wishful… It would unilaterally disarm Canada’s ability to respond to U.S. actions with counter-tariffs or nontariff measures. It would cement U.S. tariffs as a “new normal” — and thus unleash a flood of capital away from Canada… It would sabotage nascent efforts with other countries to build a co-ordinated global response to Trump, by surrendering before a united front can take shape.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
A shrinking population is hardly what this country needs right now
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025
Are wages stagnant? Are houses overpriced? Is the health care system overburdened? It must be because of all those pesky people: the “overpopulation” and “crowding”… [But] Population growth has already slowed to a trickle… The problem… is not that we have too many people: it is that we have too little capital, and too little incentive to make efficient use of the capital we have. Fixing those ought to be our priority
Tags: economy, Health, housing, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Eliminating interprovincial trade barriers would add 30K annual housing starts: CMHC
Thursday, July 17th, 2025
A new analysis by the national housing agency estimates Canada could add 30,000 more housing starts annually by eliminating interprovincial trade barriers… that prevent the movement of either resources or labour in the residential construction industry… The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has estimated that existing internal trade hurdles cost the economy some $200 billion a year.
Tags: economy, housing, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Debates | 1 Comment »
Mark Carney’s economic agenda misses something vital
Tuesday, July 8th, 2025
Concentrated ownership of our economy, and the inequality and plutocracy that result from it, are causing deep distress among working and young people who feel — quite accurately — that the economy is rigged against them. Broad-based Canadian ownership of our businesses, resources and assets needs to be part of the growth agenda… Sovereignty isn’t just about control of our border. It’s also about control of our resources and assets. We can’t truly be masters of our own home if that home is owned by an American hedge fund.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, Indigenous, participation, privatization
Posted in Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Why the Capital Gains Tax Increase Should Not See the Light of Day
Thursday, June 5th, 2025
The planned measure to increase the capital gains inclusion rate… would create a triple threat: harming Canadian businesses, discouraging investment, and penalizing middle-income Canadians… – Canada’s capital stock would decline by $127 billion, GDP would fall by nearly $90 billion, and real per-capita GDP would drop by 3 percent. Further, employment would decline by 414,000 jobs, which would raise unemployment from 1.5 million to 1.9 million workers.
Tags: economy, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Job Creation Falls Behind Rapid Population Growth
Thursday, June 5th, 2025
Canada’s labour market faces mounting pressures that cannot be fixed merely by adding more workers… “We cannot afford to leave talent on the sidelines – whether it’s older workers retiring too soon or immigrants struggling to use their skills,”… the country’s most acute demographic challenges [include] rapidly aging populations, lower workforce participation among seniors, high unemployment, and labour mismatches compounding regional disparities… “If we don’t act now, these gaps will only widen.”
Tags: economy, immigration, participation, pensions
Posted in Debates | 290 Comments »
Recent Comments