Archive for the ‘Policy Context’ Category
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Ontario should mandate paid sick days for all workers
Friday, January 29th, 2021
The Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit isn’t working well. It has delivered benefits to just over 337,000 people when it was expected to reach nearly 5 million workers… Labour laws and standards, but for a handful of federally regulated industries, are a provincial responsibility… They have left workers, especially those in the gig economy and low-wage industries, at the mercy of companies who are predisposed to cut all the corners they can when it comes to providing benefits to workers.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living
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Focus on real problem with federal sick-leave benefit: not enough workers are using it
Tuesday, January 5th, 2021
In Canada, less than half of all workers have access to paid sick leave through their employers. The vast majority of them tend to be low-paid front-line workers who can’t do their jobs from home and can’t afford to miss even a single paycheque. The last thing any of us should want is for them to go to work sick, putting their coworkers and the broader community at risk.
Tags: economy, Health, participation, standard of living
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Temp workers, the unsung pandemic heroes who make and deliver our goods, should not be losing sleep — or their lives — over $14 an hour
Tuesday, December 29th, 2020
To stop the spread of COVID-19 and protect worker health into a post-pandemic future, concrete actions must be taken to end the persistent exploitation of this workforce. Controlling COVID-19 and ultimately reopening the economy will depend on how well we are able to provide such workers with the same protections that we all enjoy.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, ideology, rights, standard of living
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Canada must reorient its immigration system for the 21st-century economy
Saturday, December 26th, 2020
If Canadian companies and postsecondary institutions are going to get the talent required to expand the Canadian economy, the government must shift to an aggressive, co-recruitment model of top talent globally… Our immigration officials will have to be less application processors and more head-hunters for the entrepreneurs, engineers, researchers, finance professionals, marketers, salespeople and other strategic vocations required to fuel Canada’s economy and vibrant society for generations to come.
Tags: economy, globalization, immigration, standard of living
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Ottawa has its hands all over the economy — and that’s just fine with business leaders
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2020
“The concept is to bring a strong portfolio of public investments and private investment in a kind of renewed partnership between government, Canadian companies and pension funds and financial institutions in Canada to fully position our leadership in the world, (in areas) where we think Canada as a middle-sized country could make a difference”… they should have a strategy that pushes companies to be more competitive in the areas we are already good at.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology
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The die has been cast on Canada’s carbon tax. Now we just need the courage to implement it across the country
Wednesday, December 16th, 2020
… there are those who claim that our carbon-pricing policy is unfair, imposing higher costs on some… but Canada’s carbon pricing policy is obsessed with equity. It is revenue-neutral on a national basis, meaning that each province receives precisely the amount that carbon taxes would collect. It includes support mechanisms for the most vulnerable. And the carbon tax rebates received by most Canadians will exceed the carbon tax they pay. Only high polluters will be net losers
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
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Justin Trudeau goes all in on the carbon tax. It’s the right thing – for the environment, and the economy
Monday, December 14th, 2020
The aim is for people to do such a good job of reducing emissions, and thereby avoiding the tax, that revenues eventually spiral to zero. The carbon tax’s goal is its own obsolescence… Among economists, putting a price on carbon is generally seen as the most efficient way to push people and businesses to use less carbon… In taking the 2030 climate goals seriously, and choosing carbon pricing to achieve them, Ottawa is making the right move, rather than the easy move.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, tax
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Want to tackle COVID-19 in low-income neighbourhoods? Let’s start with paid sick leave
Saturday, December 12th, 2020
… taking a day here to get tested or a couple days there to self-isolate eats up half the two-week entitlement… Plus, the benefit does not always offer enough money to make up for lost wages… But tweaks won’t do much about the power relationship between boss and employee. That fix can only come through provincial governments enshrining stronger worker protections and employer-paid sick leave into law…
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living
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How to Take on the Tech Barons
Sunday, November 8th, 2020
The pandemic has laid bare both the promise of technology — softening the blow of months at home — and its rougher edges, which include the consolidation of power and ever-greater personal data collection… to confront, among other things, the exposed gaps in the nation’s broadband network; the urgent need for broad online privacy protections; the rollout of 5G; growing consumer resentment of technologists; and the pitfalls of nascent technologies like self-driving cars, artificial intelligence and facial recognition.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, privatization, rights
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Forget a guaranteed basic income. There’s a better way to make sure Canadians have enough money after COVID-19
Saturday, September 19th, 2020
We already have many well-entrenched programs serving many parts of the population quite well… To replace many of them with a single cheque would not only be legally difficult, but would also give the federal government a blunt instrument to deal with the complex and ever-changing problems of poverty, low income and inequality… It’s become painfully obvious that ensuring that there are enough affordable, high-quality child-care spaces is essential for a recovery.
Tags: child care, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation
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