Posts Tagged ‘economy’
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Power will flow to a post-pandemic Ottawa
Sunday, May 24th, 2020
… if you are a near-bankrupt borrower, as several Canadian provinces and cities will soon be, you cannot demand money from the printing press owner without it coming with strings attached. For the first time since the Depression and the following war, Ottawa will be propelled into a much more powerful policy decision-making role, as a result of this shift in power dynamics, in ways that will seriously test the old boundaries of Canadian federalism.
Tags: budget, economy, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Why do provinces often confiscate federal benefits from people who clearly need them?
Saturday, May 23rd, 2020
Taken together, as many as 52,000 people on social assistance receive federal and provincial benefits that are subject to complete clawbacks… Those clawbacks poured about $34 million into provincial coffers in April… Ontario isn’t ready to give any of that money back to people such as Demerse by treating EI the same as CERB during the pandemic… it may be time to consider uploading social assistance to the federal level and leave provinces to continue offering supports such as employment training, prescription drugs, dental and vision care for low-income residents
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
The CERB is nothing like a basic income, but it might be the platform we use to build one
Friday, May 22nd, 2020
the possibility that today’s pandemic-induced mass unemployment may continue for longer than anticipated makes reform of income support both more likely and more urgent. And the general idea of a basic income – a single, unconditional transfer, without the intrusive and bewildering eligibility requirements that demean its recipients and leave many others without – remains as valid as ever… The CERB, for all its limitations, has created the precedent for a federal benefit of this kind. Maybe there’s an opening here, after all.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
What Kind of Economic Recovery do Canadians Want?
Friday, May 22nd, 2020
Canadians, by a 2 to 1 margin, want governments to spend whatever is required to rebuild and stimulate the economy, even if it means running large deficits for the foreseeable future… Building Canada’s ability to produce key products like food and medical supplies domestically… Investing in strengthening the health system, including universal public pharmacare… Not letting richer Canadians off the hook for contributing their fair share… Helping people who need it the most…
Tags: economy, featured, Health, poverty, privatization, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Five Eyes allies urged to lessen dependence on China
Thursday, May 21st, 2020
Canada depends on China for 367 categories of goods, such as pharmaceuticals and food additives, of which 83 are used to supply critical national infrastructure, including rare-earth minerals, industrial products and electronics… as China has become more authoritarian under President Xi Jinping, it has increasingly shown a willingness to threaten and punish countries that question its actions… Canada must at a minimum diversify its supply chains.
Tags: economy, globalization, Health, ideology
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Liberals should take a cue from Mulroney, not Chrétien
Wednesday, May 20th, 2020
Mulroney could have adopted the approach that Chrétien took, slashing transfer payments to the provinces and eliminating the deficit entirely. But he judged it to be irresponsible and not worthy of a prime minister in our federal system. So he didn’t… The free trade agreement with the United States had been signed, the GST and deregulation put in place and privatization begun.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
We must ensure the post-COVID world does not fall prey to socialism
Wednesday, May 20th, 2020
There is a titanic political struggle about to come. The right must start thinking about how to fight it… It will be a conflict in which the natural supporters of free enterprise as the foundation of human progress, and fiscal responsibility as the bedrock of a confident economy, will suddenly find themselves on the back foot… if people are left to turn only to socialist ideas in the wake of these terrible weeks, today’s tragedies will turn into the lifelong torment of tomorrow.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, privatization
Posted in Debates, Equality Debates | No Comments »
Ottawa to seek equity or cash from companies applying for new COVID-19 loan program
Wednesday, May 20th, 2020
Large companies that receive bridge financing through a new federal loan program will have to give the government the option to take an ownership stake, or provide a cash equivalent… “The idea behind the warrant is to make sure that if the firm does well that Canadians, and Canadian taxpayers, share in that upside” … companies can pay off the interest on the loan through in-kind contributions, usually goods or services, for the first two years of the loan.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
A recession is a great time to go back to school. Governments must help make that possible
Tuesday, May 19th, 2020
… unlike previous recessions, postsecondary education has itself been partly shut down… For the sake of Canada’s future, governments need to encourage young adults to keep pursuing their educations, and older and unemployed adults to consider a return… The pandemic presents an opportunity for educational innovation, born of necessity.
Tags: budget, economy, participation
Posted in Education Debates, Equality Debates | No Comments »
CERB and other coronavirus benefits won’t last forever. Or will they? What a universal basic income could look like
Sunday, May 17th, 2020
We long for some good to come from this crisis, some national purpose that future generations will point to and say: There, that is when the new world began, when we started to win the war on poverty with an income for all. But maybe a basic income is simply beyond our means… We’ll predict this much: When the crisis finally ends, we’ll be talking about basic income in a way we never have before.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
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