Archive for the ‘Policy Context’ Category
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Make minimum wage a living wage
Of course they’re wrestling with wages. They want to pay the least amount they can. This is not and should not be their decision… Sure, tie minimum wage to inflation, but make it a living wage of $14 hour to start. If it was raised to $14 an hour, you would also end of a lot of poverty and food bank usage in this province that politicians keep barking about.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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How Ottawa has frequently changed employment insurance
Employment insurance – or unemployment insurance, as it has been named for most of its life – is consistently one of the most controversial and challenging programs for federal governments of all stripes… Now the Conservative government is preparing to build on recent changes with a more sweeping reform of how EI helps train Canadians for new jobs… As Ottawa and the provinces prepare for more change, here’s a primer on how we got here.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
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Boost minimum wage to decrease poverty
The only impact raising the minimum wage would have on the poverty line would be that more Ontario families would be able to live above it. Bringing low-wage workers above the poverty line makes economic sense. It puts money in the pockets of working families that will be spent on goods and services, boosting the local economy and creating jobs in our community. It’s only fair that if you work full-time, year-round that you earn enough to make a living.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Help young workers, don’t raise the minimum wage
In Canada, more than a dozen studies have examined the impact of provincial minimum wage increases. Based on those findings, a 10% minimum wage hike decreases employment for young workers (ages 15-24) by an average of 3-6%. For young workers most affected — those earning between the current minimum wage and the proposed higher wage — the impact is more acute, with job losses of up to 20%.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, youth
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Employment Insurance: Time to put policy ahead of politics
… even when a region’s unemployment is persistently high, the current system encourages workers to stay put. The system also perversely encourages repeat use by seasonal workers… This represents an effective wage subsidy to seasonal industries. Such subsidies bias businesses towards hiring low-wage seasonal workers rather than investing in productivity-enhancing equipment. These features also make the system more costly than necessary…
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
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Corporate welfare comes with pepperoni
More than a few Canadians think it is normal or defensible to subsidize one business at the expense of others or at the expense of taxpayers in general… successive governments have spent tax dollars not only on the smallest of businesses, but on the civil servants necessary to parse through such requests to deny or approve them… former NDP leader David Lewis launched his crusade against “corporate welfare bums” 40 years ago.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, privatization, standard of living, tax
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Abandon fiscal stimulus for ‘automatic stabilizers’ in times of downturn: study
Instead of policies such as Canada’s Economic Action Plan, which attempt to predict how much and where spending and tax relief will be provided, governments should put in place so-called “automatic stabilizers.” These include pre-set mechanisms for employment insurance, social assistance and tax adjustments… [Governments] would be wiser to prepare by investing resources in legislating well-designed automatic stabilizers so these processes are in place to naturally kick in precisely where and when they are needed.”
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
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Scientific curiosity fuels growth
First, the National Research Council would embrace its new role as a bridge between science and industry… Second, Ottawa would shift the locus of scientific research in Canada from the NCR’s labs to the universities… Third, business would get off the sidelines… (and) play their part instead of relying on universities to do more than their share… Finally… scientists would be free to post their findings online and collaborate internationally.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, privatization, rights
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Save EI system
… the Social Security Tribunal, which came into operation on 1 April, will handle appeals regarding EI, the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security decisions. The amalgamation of these administrative bodies is supposed to create a streamlined, agile, appeal process by creating a single point of contact for submitting appeals. While the new system was introduced to make the appeal process simpler, it remains to be seen how a staff reduced from 1,000 to roughly 74 can be more efficient, especially when there nearly 10,000 appeals outstanding in the system.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, rights, standard of living, women
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Canadian budget bill contains rude shock for the CBC
“The CBC may think it is a special, independent, Crown agency. This is wrong.” Those are the words of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who is apparently pretending he’s never read the Broadcasting Act. That act defines the arm’s-length relationship between the government and CBC, which will be obliterated if the government can dictate the terms of negotiation with union and non-union employees. The door will be wide open for narrow partisan interests to trump the mandate of the public broadcaster.
Tags: budget, ideology, rights, standard of living
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