Archive for the ‘Policy Context’ Category
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Ontario government to freeze Liberals’ minimum wage hike and roll back labour-friendly rules
Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government announced officially on Tuesday that it plans to repeal chunks of the previous government’s Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act amid pushback from business owners who argued many of the changes were too costly, forcing them to raise prices and cut staff… The government will also cut the section that forces employers to pay part-time and casual staff at the same rate as full-time workers doing the same work, but said it will maintain the requirement for equal pay on the basis of sex.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
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Limits on income sprinkling cut into family businesses
In the past, business owners would sprinkle income to family members in lower tax brackets through dividends as a way to lower the family’s overall tax bill. For many business owners, this was considered a perk for a spouse’s involvement in the daily operations, even if they weren’t a paid employee, or to help pay for a child’s education. The federal government cracked down on income splitting as part of a broader set of tax changes for private corporations.
Tags: economy, ideology, privatization, tax
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Why a Canadian basic income is inevitable
Ontario’s recently cancelled basic-income pilot project, which intended to provide benefits for adults according to the same model, enrolled more working people than people already receiving income assistance. The need for a steady income among middle-class Canadians is accelerating as the labour-market changes. Silicon Valley hyperbole imagines robots replacing human labour, and that has happened for many factory jobs, but a much more likely outcome is that automation will change the way work is done.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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How your rights on the job will change if Bill 47 is passed
“If you run a billion-dollar company like Walmart, McDonald’s, or Tim Hortons, you just got one awful sweet deal from Doug Ford. If you run a temp agency, you can pay poverty wages as a business model,” said labour council president John Cartwright… “But if you work for a living in this province, odds are that someone in your family just got screwed.” … Here’s a rundown of how your rights on the job will change if Bill 47 is passed.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
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College faculty union taking province to court after task force on precarious work scrapped
The union representing Ontario college faculty is taking the Progressive Conservative government to court after it terminated a task force that was trying to fix the growing problem of part-time and contract work… the College Task Force was a key part of the arbitrator’s decision last year, ending a bitter dispute between faculty members and Ontario’s 24 colleges that culminated in a record-long, five-week strike.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
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The benefits to raising Ontario’s minimum wage are tangible
Increasing the minimum wage is one of the most effective means we have of assisting the economically disadvantaged. It puts a new, higher floor under all wages, including those earned by millions of Ontarians living just above the poverty line. The benefits are tangible: higher household incomes; increased consumer spending; lower workplace turnover and absenteeism. The few studies claiming to show job loss from minimum wage increases have been debunked.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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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
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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
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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
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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
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