Posts Tagged ‘economy’
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
The new villain? Workers fighting for better wages. Don’t fall for it
Wednesday, October 5th, 2022
This is an important chapter in the history of workers’ struggles for decent work, a moment of fighting not only inflation but long-standing systemic inequalities. It has the potential to pit unionized worker against non-unionized worker, and private sector worker against public sector worker. Or it has the potential to pave the path toward decent work, through fairness and equity
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Alternative Federal Budget 2023: Rising to the challenge
Thursday, September 22nd, 2022
… The ongoing impact of Covid-19, inflation gnawing at stagnant paycheques, a health care system squeezed to the limit, the climate crisis, and the ongoing need to dismantle colonialism and systemic racism… The AFB advances solutions and places the responsibility for change squarely on the federal government, working with the provinces and territories, to rise to the challenge…
Tags: budget, child care, economy, featured, Health, ideology, Indigenous, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
One in six households in Ontario is now struggling with food insecurity. Here’s why it’s going to get worse
Wednesday, September 21st, 2022
The chattering classes have embraced a new economic theme: government efforts to fight inflation will trigger more inflation. They’re wrong… Ontario was the only province where more people were food insecure in 2021 than in 2020… Last week the Trudeau government introduced $4.6 billion in federal aid to be spent on inflation relief until the end of 2023, almost every penny for those with low incomes.
Tags: economy, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Pierre Poilievre vs. the elites (unless they’re rich)
Sunday, September 18th, 2022
Decades of regressive tax measures, particularly lower rates of tax on business and capital, have had a significant role to play in wealth inequality. Progressive adjustments to our tax system could help reduce it. Yet it seems no amount of wealth disparity or empirical evidence can sidetrack Poilievre from his mission to make tax a four-letter word.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
We’re losing workers, not jobs
Saturday, September 17th, 2022
It turns out that inflationary pressures are caused by pent-up retirements as well as pent-up spending. And those inflation-causing labour shortages are set to worsen before they improve… The worker shortages hold back economic growth and keep Canada’s productivity growth rates at notoriously low levels. Solutions include fast-tracking immigrants into jobs; experimenting with four-day work weeks and other hybrids; luring retirees back into the workforce; and closing the gender pay gap.
Tags: economy, globalization, immigration, participation, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
How to reduce the depth of single adult poverty in Canada: Proposal for a Canada Working-Age Supplement
Wednesday, September 14th, 2022
The CWAS would not only complement Canada’s existing social safety net, it would be transformative in advancing the idea that working-age single adults should be eligible for income support not because they’ve earned it as workers, but because they need it as people. The CWAS needs to be introduced and implemented without delay.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Justin Trudeau’s $3.1B inflation-relief plan includes increase in GST rebate
Tuesday, September 13th, 2022
… the first pieces of legislation… will be to double the GST tax credit, provide dental care payments and increase housing benefits for millions of Canadians… the tax credit increase will last for six months… dental care payments are framed as a first step to achieving a national program… for people without existing insurance… The third measure [will] provide 1.8 million people with a $500 increase their federal housing supports.
Tags: budget, economy, standard of living
Posted in Delivery System | No Comments »
Show me the money: It’s not a worker shortage, it’s a wage shortage
Monday, September 5th, 2022
One of the key worker reasons for not taking jobs is that the jobs are lousy. One of the key ways that a job is lousy is that the pay is too low. Given the disruption in work experienced earlier in the pandemic, followed by sky-high inflation, expecting 10 people to apply for a $15 an hour job isn’t realistic… Job seekers are waiting for employers to show them the money—and to offer good working conditions too.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, ideology, immigration, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Ontario’s health-care system isn’t candy store to be plundered
Thursday, August 25th, 2022
With our health-care system reeling, Ford is charging ahead with further privatization — Ontario health care is already 40 per cent private — and selling this as a way to save the system through “innovation.” … The system’s problems have been thoroughly studied by countless commissions and the solutions do not involve privatization… Ontario has lots of unused hospital operating rooms, idled after years of cutbacks.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, privatization
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
A Guaranteed Basic Income for Canadians: Off The Table or Within Reach?
Tuesday, August 9th, 2022
Pilot projects… indicate that provinces are not in an ideal position to successfully implement an affordable and effective GBI. However, a GBI implemented by the federal government, financed by eliminating the GST credit and lowering personal tax exemptions, could be both effective and affordable. It could also do so without requiring the elimination of those provincial social assistance programs that are more deeply targeted toward people’s needs.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Recent Comments