Archive for the ‘Economy/Employment’ Category
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Federal government can and must put pensioners first
The federal government can and must ensure bankruptcy laws put pensioners at the front of the line. And it can go one very important step further: working with the provinces and territories to create Canada-wide mandatory pension insurance. Such a system would guarantee monthly pensions up to $2,500 whenever an employer with an underfunded pension plan… It would be paid for by pension funds, a fair trade-off, given their tax-exempt status.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, pensions, rights, standard of living
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Why Canada needs progressive reforms in employment insurance
Employment Insurance… remains an important and relevant part of the Canadian social safety net. Changes are needed to respond to new labour market realities, but the program should not, as some argue, be folded into a universal basic income… The objective of income stabilization for individuals is at odds with most calls for a redistributive basic income based on family income.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, standard of living
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Demise of Sears Canada should be catalyst for change
… to prevent this sort of fiasco… chang[e] our corporate laws so that those controlling corporations can be held personally liable for money owed to their employees… Wealthy capitalists used to be personally responsible for unpaid wages when their businesses went under. But capitalists fought hard in the late 19th and early 20th century to win the right to limit their liability. At first they won only a partial limit, but over the years U.S. and Canadian courts have extended that limit.
Tags: economy, ideology, pensions, rights
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Kids short-changed
So, Royal Bank of Canada economist Josh Nye and Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter would prefer smaller deficits… Did they not notice that the 2016 census demonstrated that a shocking 17 per cent of Canadian children live in poverty? Do they not understand that… child poverty is a strong drag on economic growth and that child benefits are necessary to decrease child poverty and economic growth? How far away is Bay Street from the real world that Canadians experience?
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Caledon praises federal Economic Statement
As a non-stigmatizing, inclusive program, the Canada Child Benefit delivers its benefits to all eligible families through the same vehicle, the personal income tax. It is portable, providing a stable and assured supplement to income no matter where families live or move. It is progressive, meaning benefits decline as incomes rise. What you see is what you get because benefits are not subject to income tax. The program pays the same amount to all families with the same income, regardless of the source of that income, where they live or family type.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, youth
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Ontario will have to hike taxes or cut spending, watchdog warns
“As the baby-boomers continue to age, they will require more resources from Ontario’s health care system, increasing pressure on government spending.” … The FAO estimated that to meet that target, Queen’s Park would have to fill an annual hole of about $6.5 billion… “Perhaps worst of all, the FAO says continuing on this course will unfairly shift the fiscal burden from baby boomers to younger Ontarians.”
Tags: budget, economy, Health, standard of living, tax
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Canada may be entering ‘sweet part’ of business cycle, Stephen Poloz says
The Canada Child Benefit has had a “pretty significant” impact on the economy, Poloz said, adding it could be one of the reasons the country has seen rising labour-force participation. “What it did is put a floor under some folks,” Poloz said, adding it may have allowed formerly stay-at-home parents to afford child care or a second car and therefore more easily re-enter the workforce.
Tags: economy, globalization, participation, standard of living
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Time to follow America’s lead on minimum wage
… Even if business scaremongering about a wage hike were remotely true (at the margins), the reality is that a rapid increase in interest rates would have far more impact, as would a collapse in the housing market… the politicians… are merely playing catch-up… the heavy lifting happened outside Ontario, with Alberta’s NDP government leading the way to a $15 target in Canada.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Tribunal slams WSIB practice that cuts benefits to injured migrant workers
A workers’ compensation board practice that slashes benefits to injured migrant farm workers by deeming them capable of finding alternative employment in Ontario is illegal, an independent tribunal has ruled… under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, employers can deport workers for “non-compliance, refusal to work, or any other sufficient reason.”
Tags: disabilities, economy, globalization, Health, rights
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What minimum-wage critics don’t want you to know
The most that any of these studies can claim is that employment will grow more slowly under higher minimum wages than in their absence. None predict that employment will decline… I am going out on a limb to predict that employment in all three provinces will increase with higher minimum wages – not because of them, of course, but because of factors (such as economic growth, population and aggregate demand) that matter most to employment. This is the perfect time to redirect growth so more benefit reaches those who need it most.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, standard of living
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