The production and consumption of oil, gas and coal has been one of the primary drivers of global growth and development for more than a century. Unfortunately—and ironically—those same fuels are now the greatest threat to our future wellbeing and prosperity. Fossil fuels are the main source of human-made greenhouse…
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When federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau tabled his 2017 federal budget in March, he pledged to make Canada’s tax system fairer. To his credit, he has closed several of the smaller tax credits in the past two budgets, but this hasn’t made a dent in how unequal the tax system…
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The cost of living keeps going up, but new Statistics Canada data shows that slow earnings growth means pay raises aren’t keeping up with inflation. The latest Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) tells the story of slow earnings growth in Canada. Average weekly Canadian earnings have not changed…
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CCPA’s David Macdonald, Senior Economist, appeared as a witness on budget implementation Bill C-44 May 16, before the House Standing Committee on Finance. Image via ParlVu. As stakeholders gather before the House Standing Committee on Finance to comment on federal budget implementation Bill C-44 this week, one aspect of the legislation–proposed…
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Image via the Toronto Star The Trump administration is not making it easy to predict what a NAFTA renegotiation will look like for Canada. On the one hand are demands from the U.S. president for a “fair” new framework for North American trade that puts American workers first. On the other…
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Ron Kneebone (Professor of Economics at the University of Calgary) and Katherine White (Yukon’s Deputy Finance Minister) have referred to social assistance as “the final layer of the public social safety net — designed to catch those people in need of support but unable to find it from family, friends…
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Child benefits have significant potential to reduce homelessness and the need for emergency shelter beds by putting more money into the hands of low-income parents. They also can (and do) reduce child poverty, though not always as much as governments claim. And because they do not carry the same stigma…
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Here are 10 things to know: Since taking office in 2015, the NDP government of Premier Notley has undertaken important steps that will almost certainly reduce poverty. These include the implementation of the Alberta Child Benefit (which will lift approximately 19,000 households out of poverty), substantial increases in funding for…
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As with most of Donald Trump’s policy ideas, details are still sparse on his plan for rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure. But two main pillars of the plan, outlined during the election campaign, stand out. First, he’s talking a big game – a proposed $1 trillion in infrastructure investment to be…
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Canada may have ended 2016 with a surprising spurt in job growth last December, but Ontario was not so lucky. Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey ushered in employment numbers for the last month of 2016, showing Canada added 214,000 jobs since December 2015 — much higher than expected. Unfortunately, most…
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