I was recently invited to give a presentation at a two-day event discussing the overdose crisis and First Nations, with a focus on southern Alberta. My presentation (slide deck available here) focused on homelessness, substance use, harm reduction and Housing First. With this in mind, here are 10 things to know: Indigenous peoples…
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That 55-cent increase to the minimum wage on April 1st undoubtedly felt like an April fools’ joke to some of the province’s lowest paid workers. Nova Scotia still has the lowest minimum wage in the country for inexperienced workers, and for experienced workers it has only just slightly surpassed its…
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There is an interesting anomaly in this year’s The Best and Worst Places to be a Women in Canada report: health outcomes. It shows that women are paid less than men, fewer women are in political leadership, and women are more likely to be victims of sexual assault. Here’s the anomaly:…
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Statistics Canada (2016), Census of Population – selected publications. Employment rates are calculated for adults aged 25-64 years. The Best and Worst Places to be a Woman in Canada report, now in its fifth update, provides a snapshot of the gaps that exist between women and men in Canada’s largest cities….
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Gender disparities exist across the country. The fifth edition of The Best and Worst Places to be a Women in Canada reports on gender disparities in 26 Canadian big cities across a range of areas related to women’s basic rights. This year’s report includes five fact sheets that look at…
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At the start of January we released two reports looking at corporate executive pay. The first, our annual report on the 100 richest Canadian CEOs, calculated that by 11:33 a.m. on Jan 2, Canada’s richest CEOs had already made $50,759—the amount the average worker will make in a year. The…
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Wait—a 10% tuition fee reduction, followed by a freeze. In [checks notes] Doug Ford’s Ontario? If you didn’t hear the record scratch after Tuesday’s sneak peek announcement, you weren’t paying close enough attention. Since assuming office, Doug Ford’s conservative government has made public funding for universities contingent on institutions adopting…
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Rent control changes proposed by the Progressive Conservative government do not better protect current tenants and take away protections for future tenants. Contrary to government statements, the re-introduction of the rent control exemption for new units will not increase the supply of units affordable to most tenants. These changes merely…
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On November 16, I participated in a workshop organized by the Alberta Alternative Budget Working Group. Held at the University of Alberta’s main campus, speakers discussed macroeconomic, health care and social policy considerations for the next Alberta budget. Here are 10 things to know: 1) Alberta’s still recovering from a…
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The Ontario PC government has announced the first cues about its plans for social assistance reform. Given that the previous PC government axed social assistance rates by 21.6%, there’s been widespread fear that rate cuts from the Ford government were on the horizon. But last week’s announcement included no…
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