Archive for the ‘Economy/Employment’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
Labour force participation, immigration headline OECD’s Canada report
… the OECD recommended, among other things, that Canada invest more in affordable child care, raise its retirement age and do a better job matching immigration applicants’ qualifications and experience to specific skills needs… “Get people to work longer or retire later, increasing female participation – that kind of thing has a bigger effect than changes in feasible amounts of immigration,”
Tags: economy, globalization, immigration, participation, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Still waiting for that adult conversation about taxes and public services
The disconnect between public services and the taxes we pay to provide them… invites us to vote for a property tax freeze, a sales tax cut, an income-tax cut — even if it doesn’t benefit us much. It invites us to disregard the reality that governments have a responsibility to ensure the ability to pay for the public services that we depend on.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Provincial carbon tax revolt could be a blessing in disguise for federal Liberals
Ottawa can and should proceed without them. A federal carbon pricing plan would not only offer the virtues of simplicity. It would also free the feds to tailor it to their own designs, rather than taking on whatever half-baked or watered-down plans the provinces threw at them… Maybe internal free trade is beyond us, but carbon-fuelled tax reform is eminently feasible.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
What does progressive trade policy look like?
Existing democratic mechanisms are proving inadequate to channel popular discontent in positive, evidence-based directions. Instead, ugly and increasingly dangerous forms of right-wing populism are capitalizing on discontent, creating a platform for inconsistent, arbitrary and ultimately destructive policy responses… Into this ferment, progressives must inject an ambitious, honest and pragmatic vision of how to manage international trade, capital and human flows in ways that protect and enhance living standards, equality and the environment.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Ottawa must close ‘tax gap’ and stop multi-billion-dollar rip-off
Tax evasion is not a victimless crime. The victims are all of us. Lost revenue to which the government is entitled pays for an already over-burdened health care system, infrastructure more than overdue for replacement or repair, the aircraft, vessels and equipment provided to Canadian troops, and much more… there is mounting evidence of the extent of an unconscionable problem and increasing urgency to address it.
Tags: budget, economy, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Good job prospects improving in the GTA — but only for some, report finds
The prospect of finding a good job in the GTA has improved overall since 2011 — but race, gender and a university education still determine your likelihood of landing one, a new report shows…. For racialized women, even those with a higher education failed to see an increase in secure employment — and those without a post-secondary degree continued to be the lowest paid in the region.
Tags: economy, multiculturalism, participation, standard of living
Posted in Delivery System | No Comments »
10 ways Ontario can save half a billion dollars a year
The incoming administration proposes to conduct a “line-by-line audit of government spending to bring an end to the culture of waste and mismanagement.” If I can find $521-million of annual savings between the couch cushions in under half an hour, then a professional line-item audit of non-public information easily will find billions more in annual savings.
Tags: budget, economy
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
How Factories Made (and Unmade) Us All
… this becomes a key aspect of the factory. Its purpose is not just to make things cheap, but to make them ever cheaper. When unionized factory workers got too expensive, the companies moved to the south, and then to Mexico, and then to China… The day will surely come when Chinese brands outsource their designs to factories in Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Sierra Leone. And if they ever outsource them to the U.S. or Canada, it will be only when we can offer cheaper labour than the Ethiopians.
Tags: economy, globalization, participation
Posted in History | No Comments »
What America forgets: Competition drives innovation
Competition in an advanced economy leads to more science, more advanced engineering and better products… Raising tariffs simply encourages a more insular United States and reduces access to these improvements. Less competition in the technology realm means that it becomes easier to emphasize cheaper instead of better. Tariffs hold everyone back from advancements in technology.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
The real reason jobs left America
… the part of the U.S. that specialized in assembly-line manufacturing, and assembly lines are the easiest things in the world to automate… The data that strongly suggested we were heading for a mostly jobless future was available years ago, but most people ignored it. It was too hard to deal with… Most of the attempts to future-proof our politics are currently focused on developing various versions of a guaranteed basic income (Ontario’s pilot program being the biggest and boldest).
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Recent Comments