Archive for the ‘Policy Context’ Category
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Investor-State Dispute Settlement in the TTIP and CETA
One of the most controversial elements of modern trade treaties is the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, which allows foreign investors to bypass domestic courts and directly challenge government measures before unaccountable arbitration tribunals… Faced with unprecedented levels of public criticism, however, the European Commission has paused the TTIP negotiations on ISDS in order to consult the public… CCPA’s senior trade policy researcher, argues that there is no credible justification for including ISDS in either the CETA or the TTIP.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, privatization, standard of living
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Other ideas on how to tackle poverty
… the most basic solution to tackling poverty – reducing the number of people earning poverty wages… Labour law can be updated so that workers in the service sector – homecare, food service, cleaning and security — can have their jobs and wage levels protected when contracts change from one company to another… [also] Living wage ordinances… apprenticeships… Instead of spending millions subsidizing low-wage employers, we should demand that the “labour market” works for every Ontario resident.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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How Canada lets employers avoid temporary foreign worker reforms
Ottawa is still freely allowing companies to bring in temporary foreign workers. It’s just using a different scheme. This one is called the Intra-Company Transfer program (ICT). Foreign workers imported under it do not have to satisfy any of the conditions [of the TWP]… All they need do is claim that the workers they are importing are managers, executives or employees who possess “specialized knowledge.” … it has expanded well beyond that… The temporary foreign workers program may have been hobbled. But the war against good wages continues.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
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Stronger IP protection for pharmaceuticals would benefit Canadians
Enhanced IP protection for pharmaceuticals in Canada would increase incentives for activity in this knowledge based industry that pays relatively high wages for both highly-skilled and low-skilled employees. The resulting benefits include reduced legal ambiguity and litigation in Canada, greater research and development expenditures, additional job creation in the pharmaceutical industry, greater pharmaceutical self-sufficiency, improved access to medical innovations and additional innovation in medicines.
Tags: economy, globalization, Health, pharmaceutical
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Canada flying blind on labour shortages: Drummond
… there is still no single body that has taken responsibility for making the decisions on how best to address the gaps in Canada’s labour market… too much of the data are fragmented, not just among federal government departments but also within provincial governments and even down at the local level, leaving gaps and inconsistencies across the country… Mr. Drummond’s new report is a long-overdue call to arms for Ottawa, in co-ordination with its statistical agency and the provinces, to take action.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction
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It’s time for Ottawa to play hardball with provinces on internal trade
Almost every independent observer who has considered them agrees that they are an indefensible drag on the economy… The fundamental problem… is that the provinces have little reason to want to eliminate barriers they have themselves created, whether in beer, wine, transport, electricity or provincial regulatory enforcers. To do so, they must offend powerful local constituencies… It is time that Ottawa… used its legitimate power under the Constitution to create a charter of economic rights for Canadians that the courts can enforce.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living
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Banks have lost their way, Carney says
“We need to recognize the tension between pure free-market capitalism, which reinforces the primacy of the individual at the expense of the system, and social capital, which requires from individuals a broader sense of responsibility for the system,” he said. “A sense of self must be accompanied by a sense of the systemic.” … Carney made the case for reform of the “hard and soft infrastructure of markets” following evidence of rate-rigging and foreign-exchange manipulation.
Tags: crime prevention, economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
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Temporary foreign workers threatened the Conservative coalition
Migrant employment rose 140 per cent between 2005 and 2012. One in every five net new paid jobs created in Canada between 2007 and 2012 was filled by a migrant worker – a startling reliance on what was supposed to be a “last resort” program… The hospitality sector alone had 45,000 guest workers on the roll by 2012, with migrants capturing 40 per cent of net new positions since 2009. How many jobs are there in hotels and restaurants that Canadians truly cannot perform?
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, immigration, standard of living
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Time to end Canada’s temporary foreign worker program
The reason why employers prefer TFWs over Canadians is that the former are essentially indentured labour. The vast majority of low-wage workers from abroad are from poorer areas of the world and will do almost anything to avoid losing their positions with the employers who brought them here and to whom they are tied.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, immigration, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living, youth
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One in four new jobs went to temporary foreign workers
It turns out that a good chunk of new jobs in Canada — one in four, to be exact — were filled by temporary foreign workers, while unemployed Canadians couldn’t find work… the number of temporary foreign workers has increased dramatically, from 89,000 per year in 2000 to 213,000 in 2012. And TFWs, approved to work in Canada by the federal government, are being used “primarily in lower paying jobs, particularly in the hospitality, and food and beverage industries.”
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, youth
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