Posts Tagged ‘globalization’
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COVID-19 prompted previously unthinkable spending from Ottawa. Here’s how it will reshape our future
Saturday, April 25th, 2020
… just two months ago… COVID-19 management gripped our economy and we collectively decided to put health and well-being above — far above — economic growth and fiscal discipline… but few foresaw a lockdown that is now more than six weeks long, with many more to come. Few could predict that the cost would be so enormous. But the most surprising part? The consensus that it’s all still worth it is holding strong.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, Health, ideology, participation
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Shockproofing Canada: We can make masks and ventilators, but we can’t make drugs needed to treat COVID-19
Friday, April 17th, 2020
“That’s the problem with stockpiles… You end up sitting on millions of dollars in drugs and equipment. Then you have to keep replacing it. And which ones do you stockpile?” The alternative, then, would be to expand production capacities for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies at home, but that’s more complicated than it might seem… Countries such as Canada will have to each find their own balance between self-reliance and international cooperation…
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, pharmaceutical
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
PM’s COVID-19 aid underlines the potential benefits of universal basic income
Sunday, April 12th, 2020
As Annie Lowrey highlights in her book “Give People Money,” UBI would “ensure that every person had some minimal level of capital and, thus, some minimal level of choice.” This is extremely important for the well-being of society… The economic right, on the other hand, sees UBI as an opportunity to get rid of governmental bureaucracy and inefficiencies. It views UBI as a way to replace existing allowance programs, tailored over many years, with an efficient, one-cheque solution.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Ottawa should produce vital products — like it did in the Second World War
Wednesday, April 8th, 2020
… many companies have signalled a willingness to produce materials for the pandemic. But, without a powerful government agency overseeing production and distribution, we’ve been left scrambling to buy scarce equipment in a chaotic private marketplace, bidding against U.S. states and governments all over the world. If the Trudeau government seems unable to break out of its subservience to the marketplace, some in the labour movement are showing more vision.
Tags: economy, globalization, Health, ideology
Posted in History | 1 Comment »
Canada will need a new industrial policy for a new world
Tuesday, April 7th, 2020
The pandemic is like an x-ray that reveals flaws in our social and economic body that we can no longer ignore… The drive to outsource everything possible in the name of the cheapest possible product has left far too many stranded in precarious, poorly paid work… The gaping holes in the social safety net laid bare by the pandemic make clear that we’ll end up paying one way or the other, either in higher prices needed to provide decent wages, or in expensive social benefits.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
We can’t just pick up the pieces after the pandemic subsides – we need to keep them together
Monday, March 30th, 2020
… All governments are being affected by dramatic losses in revenues, but, as with a virus, the impact is not universally the same. Some economies are more robust than others. These issues cannot be allowed to fester. They will need to be addressed. So too the continuing inequalities affecting Indigenous people and communities as well as the homeless and others deeply marginalized now stare us in the face…
Tags: economy, globalization, Health, homelessness, ideology, Indigenous, participation
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
A wartime economy is a very particular thing
Wednesday, March 25th, 2020
When there is only one economic objective, and everyone agrees what it is, central planning works tolerably well… Good policy ideas that are, for one reason or another, politically impractical at most times often become possible in crises, when the risks and rewards of experimentation are seen rather differently. The baby bonus came out of the Second World War. Perhaps some form of basic income will be the legacy of “World War C.”
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Federal COVID-19 aid needs speed, and space to grow
Tuesday, March 24th, 2020
Many of us know the current system is broken and prioritizes profit over people and their well-being. The pandemic is making those cracks clear. The response to the pandemic has shown that the government has the capacity to act in the public interest on a massive scale – job-protected paid sick leave for all workers was not on any government’s agenda before last week. We will need to carry that urgency to build a better society with us into the recovery to ensure that we do not return to “normal.”
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Postponing Retirement New Reality For Older Workers
Tuesday, March 24th, 2020
… given the COVID-19-related slump in the market, older workers may need to spend extra years on the workforce, or settle for a lower level of retirement income… Recognizing that working past age 70 will become more common in the future, Ottawa should also raise the age at which workers must stop contributing to tax-deferred saving vehicles and start receiving income from them to age 75 from the current 71… [and] amend OAS and the CPP to allow for the deferral of income from these programs to age 75
Tags: globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
When does social distancing end? These graphs show where we’re heading and why
Monday, March 23rd, 2020
… how and when to emerge from the current state of isolation[?] It’s a decision that means weighing the serious health risk that the new coronavirus poses against the crushing impact of prolonged social distancing on the economy, jobs, education and public life. It will also depend crucially on how long individuals are willing to maintain social-distancing practices.
Tags: globalization, Health, participation
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
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