Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Carol Goar discusses Canada’s broken fiscal stabilizers – as unemployment insurance and social programs intended to assure citizens of at least a reasonable standard of living have been cut to well below that level: Canada’s economic shock absorbers are badly worn. Employment insurance,
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Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – The Guardian discusses how the all-too-familiar trend of growing inequality and ever more precarious lives for all but the fabulously wealthy is unsustainable: While the debate in the UK is mostly focused on growth and how best to engender it, Reich explains in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Saturday reading. – Hamida Ghafour writes about the effect of tax avoidance by the world’s wealthy on the lives of the rest of the population – particularly when coupled with austerity pushed based on a lack of revenue: The OECD is a fierce defender of
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Labour Market still weak: Bank of Canada
The Bank of Canada released their January 2013 Monetary Policy Report. Of note, the Bank downgraded its growth expectation for 2013 to 2.0% from 2.3%, and expects the Canadian economy will not reach full potential until late 2014. Several key points in the January MPR reinforce what progressive economists have
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Pushback on EI Changes
It has been a week and a half since changes to the definition of suitable employment and reasonable job search have come into effect. Already, a single mom in Prince Edward Island, Marlene Giersdorf, has become a symbol of the hardship these changes are likely to have on many Canadians in
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Re-defining (Un)Employment Insurance
Several key changes to Employment Insurance came into effect on Sunday. The EI program is about to get Grinch-ier, especially for who happen to have needed it more than once. What Changed Some of the changes made are reasonable, some are technical, and some are misguided. Together, these changes go
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Sounds of Resistance
Well say what you like about Stephen Harper. Call him the Crime Minister or the devil himself.But nobody can deny that he’s consistent eh?One moment he’s waging a war of wills with a starving woman who represents some of the poorest people in Canada.Or boasting about the eleven thousand government
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: New historical lows in EI coverage
This is a guest post by Paul Tulloch on the deterioration of Employment Insurance coverage, also responding Statscan’s release of EI figures for October 2012. The painful toll that job loss and unemployment can unleash on Canadian families has traditionally been managed with Canada’s once quite functional Employment Insurance (EI) program.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Tim Harper writes about Tom Mulcair’s success in building the NDP up as the leading alternative to the Cons for Canadian voters: Two-thirds of his questions since becoming leader have dealt with the economy as he attempts to build the case that
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Stay the course
The Fall Economic Update was hosted this week by the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce. It seems Minister Flaherty wanted to be sure of friendly faces when he announced that the 2012-2013 budget deficit will likely be $5-$7 billion higher than forecast in March. The reason for the higher deficit is that nominal GDP will be […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Fewer Unemployed Eligible for Benefits
The annual Employment Insurance Coverage Survey is out, here. The rate of eligibility for regular benefits from Employment Insurance is the lowest since 2003, the earliest year that there is comparable data. To qualify, a person must have worked in the past 12 months and contributed to Employment Insurance, they must have
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Michelle Ervin discusses Ed Broadbent’s ideas to start closing Canada’s yawning income gap: Broadbent outlined four broad prescriptions for bridging this gap, and ultimately, for creating a fairer society: investing in good jobs, strengthening income supports, increasing access to public services and reforming
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: Canadian Government to extend EI benefits to families of seriously ill children
The Canadian Government announced today that Employment Insurance (EI) benefits will be extended to families of seriously ill children. It will allow parents or legal guardians of minor children with a life threatening illness or injury to receive income support for up to 35 weeks. The… ..
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: Canadian Government to extend EI benefits to families of seriously ill children
The Canadian Government announced today that Employment Insurance (EI) benefits will be extended to families of seriously ill children. It will allow parents or legal guardians of minor children with a life threatening illness or injury to receive income support for up to 35 weeks. The… ..
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: Canadian Government to extend EI benefits to families of seriously ill children
The Canadian Government announced today that Employment Insurance (EI) benefits will be extended to families of seriously ill children. It will allow parents or legal guardians of minor children with a life threatening illness or injury to receiv…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: EI Lags Unemployment
Today, Statistics Canada reported that 3,400 more Canadians received Employment Insurance (EI) benefits in May. It previously reported that unemployment rose by 8,000 that month. In other words, even more workers are now unemployed without EI benefits. In total, just 37% of unemployed Canadians received benefits in May (i.e. 512,600
Continue readingAlberta Diary: What kind of Canadian signs Jason Kenney’s petition for Jason Kenney? (Answer below)
“Gotta do something about those infernal refugees!” Some of Hon. Jason Kenney, PC, MP’s supporters get together for an evening of poker and political talk. Below: Riley Climenhaga. I recently received the following disturbing communication via email from someone named R.R. Climenhaga under the heading “Hon. Jason Kenney, PC, MP.”
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Liberal Party Petition: No More Omnibus Bills, Harper
The just-concluded Parliamentary session witnessed “serious abuses of power by the Harper Conservatives” through the use of two omnibus bills “that are radically changing Canada”: crime Bill C-10 and Budget Bill C-38. Please Go HERE to sign and share the Liberal Party of Canada’s petition against this abuse of power by
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: EI: More Workers Fall Through the Cracks
Statistics Canada reported today that the number of Canadians receiving Employment Insurance (EI) dropped by 29,000 in April. Meanwhile, the Labour Force Survey indicates that unemployment rose by 14,000 in April (and by a further 8,000 in May). The combination of falling EI coverage and rising unemployment means that tens
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Job seeker to Job vacancy ratio remains high
Statistics Canada has released their latest data on job vacancies today, in the Daily. In March 2012 there were 5.8 job seekers for every job vacancy in Canada, down from 6.5 in March 2011. This is mostly because there were about 57 000 fewer unemployed in March 2012 than there
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