Speaking in a 2013 year-end interview with CTV News, Premier Brad Wall had this to say about his government’s approach to the economy and the private sector: “We’ve said, as a government, that we’re not going to try to pick winners and losers. In the past, governments of all stripes have…
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[Image: Twitter user @zittrain] Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a shock that, as ends no longer come close to meeting, and as households reel under the strain of systems and employers that treat quality of life as an inconvenience, people are turning to “alternative funding models” to try and buy…
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In an interview that aired on Radio-Canada, Health Minister Gaétan Barrette invoked the “failure” of the “initial concept of CLSCs” to justify significant activities and resources being transferred from local community service centres (CLSCs) to family medicine groups (FMGs). The Minister’s statement suggests that CLSCs are primarily responsible for this…
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The strike at the Halifax Chronicle-Herald (hereafter CH) is dragging into its 14th week. Events over the past couple of weeks show how the strike is important, and not just for those directly involved. It shows how labour disputes are often as much about struggles over whose expertise within, and…
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We’ve consistently argued that the Trans-Pacific Partnership will bring high social and environmental costs and few economic benefits to Canada. The deal privileges multinational corporations and foreign investors while failing to protect the public interest and promote inclusive economic growth here at home. A new report from the C.D. Howe…
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The push for new pipelines to bring Alberta bitumen to “tidewater” is on, even as the ink is barely dry on the Paris Agreement, and its call to action on climate change. Alberta Premier Notley argues that “We’re not making a choice between the environment and the economy. We are building the economy.”…
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Alberta’s 2016 Budget presents its plan to price carbon, in two parts: a new Carbon Levy applied to transportation and heating fuel, at $20 per tonne of CO2 (4.5 cents per litre at the pump) starting January 2017, rising to $30 (6.7 cents per litre) in 2018; and, changes to…
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Overshadowed by the Brussels attacks and the death of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford which both took place the same day, Bill Morneau’s first budget, unveiled on March 22nd, is also deserving of our attention. It gives us a better idea of what the country might expect under Liberal rule….
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As the Premier is fond of saying, the worst is behind us, and Quebec is now set to enjoy more prosperous days. Despite Mr. Couillard’s assurances, it was hard to take his word for it at the beginning of the year. The announcement last month that daycare funding is under review…
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What a difference two years make. In February 2014, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath was gearing up for a provincial election and announced that, if elected, her government would raise Ontario’s minimum wage to $12 by 2016. A $12 promise fell considerably short of the $14 minimum wage campaign that…
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