Archive for the ‘Economy/Employment’ Category
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Closing the Gender Wage Gap
The Gender Wage Gap Strategy Steering Committee… will examine how women are affected by the gender wage gap, at work, in their family, and in their community. They will assess how government, business, labour, other organizations, and individual leaders can work together to resolve issues that may cause the wage gap… The… Steering Committee has created two consultation papers… for organizations, and… for individuals… Public townhall sessions will be held across the province.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living, women
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NAFTA is not TPP
… if Canada was outside the TPP, it’s true we would still get WTO-level MFN or non-discriminatory treatment from the 11 remaining TPP members. As well, Canada would still get NAFTA-level preferential treatment from the U.S. and Mexico… But Canada would not be entitled to any of the preferences given by the TPP member countries among themselves, including of course, preferential treatment the U.S. gives to its TPP partners.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, standard of living
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TPP deal offers overdue opportunity for a new vision in agriculture
On a purely net basis, to be left out of a signed deal would have been tragic for Canada’s agricultural economy… now… it is time to redefine what competitiveness really means… When Europe ended the quota system this year, several programs allowed a number of farmers to fully prepare for the open market… We must be prepared to give industry the time and resources to foster better streamlining during the transition.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
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In international trade, it’s not really all about exports
… in free trade talks, the concessions are actually the gains… It’s about acknowledging the central role of consumers, and of competition for consumers’ custom, in driving businesses to lower costs and raise productivity — to specialize in areas of comparative advantage, and reap economies of scale from longer production runs… The objective isn’t to increase exports, per se… Rather, it’s to change the composition of GDP: An economy that trades relatively more of what it produces and consumes will be more specialized, other things being equal, and enjoy higher productivity as a result. Which is ultimately what underpins wages.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
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TPP deal a clear win for Canada
… almost all sectors of our economy stand to benefit.. It will now be up to our exporters to aggressively seize new market opportunities open to them… We will have to relax some protectionist measures propping up our least competitive entities, as will other TPP partners… On trade liberalization, we are actually moving at a much faster clip globally than domestically… some recalcitrant provinces should act to break down the shackles inhibiting competition in our own country.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
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Austerity’s vicious circle
… cuts target services for the most vulnerable… We lag in tackling inequality and poverty… Austerity creates a cycle of erosion and distrust. As public services are squeezed, we get less, we wait longer, we pay more out of pocket, we get angry with government and, ironically, become less willing to pay the taxes that would stop this erosion… The debate we need is precisely about what those wise choices are, about what and whom government is for and whether we are willing to pay the price for the Canada we want.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Ontario’s working poor deserve better
Some 500,000 working Ontarians got a pay hike this week. The minimum wage edged up by a princely 25 cents an hour, to $11.25. That’s an extra $8.75 a week for those lucky enough to hold down a 35-hour job… A minimum-wage worker in Ontario doing 35 hours a week will now earn just over $20,000 before taxes, well under the $23,000-a-year poverty line… In 1997 only one Ontarian in 40 earned the minimum. Today it’s one in eight. More and more are in precarious employment, with unsettled working hours… Social justice is one good reason to legislate a living wage. Common sense is another.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | 4 Comments »
Capitalism should be for the many, not the few, book argues
What role government must play is central to Reich’s just-published Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few. The title beguiles because, as we all know, we’re in a mess. “The issue of widening inequality, the decline of equal opportunity, the stagnation of median wages, [these] have become central issues”… The book runs much deeper than executive winnings. Bankruptcy rules that favour the big over the small, diminished union power, the agglomeration of market power into near monopolies…
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Minimum Wage Rates in Canada: 1965-2015
Minimum wages are among Canada’s oldest and most important social programs…. recent increase in minimum wages across Canada is likely due in part to the creation of poverty reduction strategies, which have focused attention on minimum wages… Currently only five jurisdictions index their minimum wage rates – Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Yukon. The report also compares minimum wages in Canada to other countries.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Debates | 1 Comment »
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