Canadians will forever be indebted because of Jim Flaherty. Regardless of what one thinks of the recently deceased man on a personal level, if one uses objective, non-emotional criteria, it is clear that he was probably the worst finance minister in Canadian history. Unfortunately for us, his replacement, Joe Oliver,
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The Progressive Economics Forum: 10 Things to Know About the At Home/Chez Soi Study
On Tuesday, April 8, results of the Mental Health Commission of Canada‘s At Home/Chez Soi homelessness study will be released at an Ottawa press conference. The study followed more than 2,000 participants in five Canadian cities. All were homeless when the study began. Half of them received the Housing First intervention,
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Alex Usher on Jason Kenney’s Enthusiasm for German Apprenticeships
Alex Usher, one of Canada’s most well-known post-secondary education pundits, has just written a blog post offering some sober second thought on Minister Kenney’s recent enthusiasm for Germany’s apprenticeship system. Mr. Usher’s blog post can be accessed here.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Flaherty’s Legacy: Ideological, reckless and just plain lucky
This piece was originally published at the Globe and Mail’s online Report on Business feature, EconomyLab. There are two reasons why it is difficult to comment on the legacy of a finance minister. 1) It is a tremendously challenging job, anywhere, any time. Stewarding one of the largest economies
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: There has been a lot of talk in the Canadian mainstream media…
There has been a lot of talk in the Canadian mainstream media and from the mainstream Canadian political parties about the middle class, but almost no discussion of the working class. Even the (slightly) left-of-centre New Democratic Party (NDP) keeps using the buzzwords “middle-class families” instead of “workers” or “working-class
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Income Splitting Déjà Vu
This blog’s unofficial slogan has been “Tomorrow’s conventional wisdom, today.” After this week’s Conservative backpedaling on income splitting, we may need to change it to “Today’s conventional wisdom, seven years ago.” Or we could just stick with “You read it here first.” My first-ever blog post, Income Splitting Redux, argued that
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Missing In Action: Federal Budget 2014
Here’s the first section of the budget summary and analysis I’ve prepared for CUPE. The full version is on-line on CUPE’s website at http://cupe.ca/economics/missing-action-federal-budget-2014 together with CUPE’s press release at: http://cupe.ca/economics/federal-budget-2014-help-hurt-canadian Missing In Action: Federal Budget 2014 CUPE Federal Budget 2014 Summary and Response Conservatives ignore pressing economic needs with
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Harper-&-Rogues Gallery – Part 3 Recent news that the…
Stephen Harper and Brian Mulroney, Canada’s second-worst prime minister (Harper is the worst). Stephen Harper and Silvio Berlusconi, disgraced former prime minister of Italy. Vic Toews and Stephen Harper. Toews is a disgraced former Conservative MP with fascist tendencies and a sleazy personal life. Pamela Wallin and Stephen Harper. Wallin
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Harper-&-Rogues Gallery – Part 2 Recent news that the…
Stephen Harper and Pierre Poilivere, the minister in charge of dismantling democracy in Canada. Stockwell Day, Chuck Strahl and Stephen Harper. Day and Strahl are disgraced former Conservative MPs who now work as sleazy lobbyists. Tom Flanagan and Stephen Harper. Flanagan, who is Harper’s political mentor and former colleague, is
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Harper-&-Rogues Gallery – Part 1 Recent news that the…
Harper-&-Rogues Gallery – Part 1 Recent news that the drummer in Stephen Harper’s terrible cover band was charged with sex crimes re-emphasizes the fact that Harper loves to surround himself with sleazebags, crooks and various ne’er-do-wells. That’s because he is one of them. Here is part one of a gallery
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Crappy New Year 2014: Canada’s economy in the shitter Yes,…
Crappy New Year 2014: Canada’s economy in the shitter Yes, it’s the economy, stupid! As of January 2014, the Canadian economy continues to be shite, swirling down the toilet. The Harper Conservatives are flushing our country down the drain. When I say “the economy”, I mean the real, boots-on-the-street, money-in-your-pocket
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Canada Post’s vow to ‘protect taxpayers’ needs a reality check
This piece was first published in the Globe & Mail. In a move that caught everyone off-guard, Canada Post announced a five point “action plan” last week that included phasing-out home delivery of the mail over the next five years, making Canada the only G7 nation to do so. Why? To “protect taxpayers.” Of
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: ‘It is enough for a man to understand his own business; mine occupies me constantly’
Federal Industry Minister James Moore on the federal government’s role (or lack thereof) in reducing child poverty in Canada is basically: let others worry about it: “Federal minister says child poverty not Ottawa’s problem: “Is it my job to feed my neighbour’s child? I don’t think so.” That from Federal
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: How Harper can avoid turning a Budget Implementation Bill into a Duffy budget bill
On November 25th, I made the following submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance regarding Bill C-4, Economic Action Plan 2013 Act No. 2, on behalf of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. 1. Introduction and Context Thank you for the invitation to appear before the
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Canada’s (not so incredible) shrinking federal government
Buried in the federal government’s recent Update of Economic and Fiscal Projections are figures showing the Harper government is set to squeeze federal government’s role to the smallest it has been in seventy years. (Bill Curry at the Globe also just wrote about this, but without figures further back than 1958). Total federal
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: I’m sick of reading and hearing people say things like…
I’m sick of reading and hearing people say things like “It’s not fair to suspend those senators without pay, without conducting a full investigation and giving them their day it court.” The dishonourable Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau have already been proven guilty of embezzling from the Canadian
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Homelessness Policy
This afternoon, I gave a presentation on public policy responding to homelessness in Canada, with a focus on the past decade. I gave the presentation at this year’s annual conference of the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association. Points I made in the presentation include the following: -Once inflation is accounted for,
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Whenever a new study or article comes out proving that the…
Whenever a new study or article comes out proving that the Canadian job market, compensation packages and standard of living are dwindling for most workers — especially young Canadians — the knee-jerk response from right-wing reactionaries is to sputter: ” Move to Alberta!” or “Go into the trades!” or “Go
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: I downloaded this image from Facebook. It perfectly sums up…
I downloaded this image from Facebook. It perfectly sums up what Canadians are experiencing under the disgraced Harper Conservative government. The traitorous scum are slowly destroying Canada bit by bit, scandal by scandal, crime by crime, sell-off by sell-off, treason by treason. They are deliberately trying to wear us down
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