Yesterday, Ontario’s NDP announced an election plank: increase the minimum wage, and at the same time, cut taxes for small business. The gist of their proposal: a) a 33% tax cut for small businesses and b) a 56 cent minimum wage increase over and above what the current government has…
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Yesterday, Statistics Canada released its 2012 wealth survey (Survey of Financial Security). Two previous wealth surveys were published in 2005 and 1999 with a similar methodology. We often talk about income inequality, which examines what middle class and rich Canadians make in a year. However, wealth inequality examines middle class and rich Canadians’…
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Austerity has been the keyword for the past five years: initiatives decreasing spending in order to then slow down public debt growth were meant to ensure recovery after the 2008 financial crisis. We now know that it has instead hurt the economy. The Parti Québécois now contends it is turning…
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I like playing monopoly as much as the next girl. But I know the difference between monopoly money and what’s in my wallet. Not so Federal Budget 2014—at least not when it comes to public spending to improve the lives of women. Status of Women Canada, the federal organization tasked…
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In the wake of the Federal Budget, the CCPA’s Alternative Federal Budget, and months of disappointing job numbers, it seems that the national conversation about youth and work is undergoing a bit of a revival. Following on the heels of Jim Flaherty’s announcement of interest-free loans for skilled trades students,…
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There was a strange debate at the Ontario Legislature on Monday. It was a disagreement not over policies or a scandal, but over the state of the labour market in Ontario. Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak said: “Premier, in review of your first year in office, I noticed that Ontario…
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Are you one of those people for whom your job is also a passion? Would you be ready to accept a pay cut only for the pleasure of keeping the job you currently have, along with the people you work with? According to a poll conducted last year by recruiting…
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Well, that was awkward. Oh, sorry—I’m not talking about how the federal government, in a remarkable display of self-satire, cut short debate on the Fair Elections Act (or as I like to call it: “Democracy 2.0: Abridged too far”). And, tempting as it is, I’m not hinting at the recent…
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This piece was first published in the Globe and Mail’s Economy Lab. You could hear the sound of jaws dropping across the nation this week when Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, in response to a question from a journalist, cast doubt on the idea of income-splitting for young families, something his party has…
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In the United States, prisons and privatization have become as American as apple pie. Today, approximately 130,000 people are incarcerated by for-profit companies in the United States, an 1,664% increase over the last 19 years. Even those prisons that remain state-run have sought to turn over almost every conceivable service –…
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