I’ve speculated in earlier posts that many of the promises made by parties during the federal election campaign were expensive, and I was curious about how they’d pay for them. Of course, there are always three choices: run a larger deficit, raise taxes or cut services. The NDP and the…
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A patient enters my office in a bout of depression and in need of counselling—if only comprehensive mental health care were included in Canadian medicare. The next patient, a newcomer to Toronto in need of housing, has moved here fleeing persecution abroad, only to face homelessness and a decade-long waiting…
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What a difference a few years make. Tackling poverty and inequality were key themes in the 2015 election. This year, they have been muscled out by talk of affordability and tax cuts. International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is an excellent opportunity to take stock of where we are…
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It has taken a while, but almost all the major political parties now seem to finally agree that it’s time to tax the digital e-commerce giants: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google. But each has made different commitments which may appear subtle but add up to big differences in how…
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This is an update to an earlier post that examined only the Conservative “universal tax cut”. I now have had a bit more time to model the Liberal version and compare the two head to head. These results are also highlighted in a recent Macleans article on the topic. As…
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The release of Statistics Canada’s monthly labour force report is always keenly awaited by economists and policy-makers as a key indicator of Canada’s economic direction. But this month’s release will naturally attract more attention than normal, as it is the last jobs report before the federal election. This latest report,…
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With less than two weeks until Canadians head to the polls, we’re turning our attention to one of the key topics that impacts affordability for young voters: post-secondary education. While there are a number of different aspects to the debate, this post focuses on the different approaches to affordability taken…
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There was a lot of talk in last night’s debate about budgets, deficits, and program funding. So it seemed like a good time to look at the aggregate impact of the party platforms. In other words, let’s talk about deficits. The release of the Liberal platform came with much consternation…
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For centuries, the political right has opportunistically blamed immigrants for everything from economic slowdowns to lousy weather. The ferocity of these baseless attacks in the 20th century produced tragic results. Yet we are letting it happen again—in the United States, Brazil, Australia, different parts of Europe, and here in Canada. We…
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If you think that in a country as rich as Canada no child lives in poverty, unfortunately you’d be wrong. Back in 1989, the House of Commons voted to end child poverty by 2000. Spoiler alert: they’re late. Campaign 2000 has been working for 30 years to achieve that goal,…
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