Over at the Behind the Numbers web site, Allan Moscovitch, David Macdonald and I have a blog post titled “Ten Things to Know About Federal Income Support for Low-Income Seniors in Canada.” The blog post argues—among other things—that if the age of eligibility for Old Age Security were to move from 65 to 67, the […]
Continue readingTag: federal budget
The Progressive Economics Forum: Central Agencies in Canada
Do you ever sit in bed late at night wondering what it is that Finance Canada, the Privy Council Office and Treasury Board Secretariat actually do? Well, wonder no more my friends! Over at the web site of the Calgary Homeless Foundation, I’ve written a blog post titled “Ten things to know about central agencies […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ten things to know about the 2016-17 Alberta budget
Over at the web site of the Calgary Homeless Foundation, I have a blog post titled: “Ten things to know about the 2016-17 Alberta budget.”
The link to the post is here.
The Progressive Economics Forum: February Labour Force Woes
The unemployment rate is up again this month, to 7.3%, with 1.4 million workers looking for jobs in February. A loss of full-time work was partly replaced by part time positions. A disproportionate percentage of last year’s growth came from precarious self-employment. Remember those heady days when we could say that at least Canada’s unemployment rate […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Jobs and Growth after the Great Recession
This is the time of year when articles list their favourite things about last year, and their “things to watch” for the next year. Naturally, my “things to watch” list will always include the labour market. Where have we seen the strongest job growth or worst job losses, and what are the trends that might […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Federal Surplus: Digging Deeper
This week Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are trumpeting the announcement of a small surplus ($1.9 billion) for fiscal 2014-15. The political symbolism of this “good news” is a welcome change for them from a string of negative economic reports (most importantly, news that Canada slipped into recession in the first half
Continue readingBlevkog: The real truth about reconciliation…
Is that all is good with our native peoples. I mean it would have to be if the government department tasked with providing services to them was able to lapse a billion dollars in budget over the past five years. Of course there is also another possibility, that the Conservatives
Continue readingBlevkog: One would think…
One would think that the question “How many jobs will be created by the federal budget?” when asked of the bloody finance minister who had just delivered the thing would get a better worded response than “dunno“. If jobs were the teeniest tiniest concern for this government, one would think that
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Budget 2015: Robin Hood in Reverse
Here’s a link to the longer analysis I prepared of the federal budget, now on-line at CUPE’s website, to accompany the press release and notes we put out immediately following the budget. The entire document may be too long to post here, so here’s the 1st two paragraphs. The Big Picture:
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: My “Top Five” Most Outrageous Things About This Budget
With a document whose very timing, let alone content, was so transparently politicized and manipulative, it’s hard to even know where to start. Among the many galling, short-sighted, and ultimately destructive components of this federal budget, here are 5 that stand out in my view: 1. Timing. At a time
Continue readingcmkl: Seniors organizations support doubling the TFSA limit? Can we have a source please?
Normally the Globe’s Parliament Hill coverage is pretty good. But this Bill Curry item makes the unattributed claim that seniors organizations support the trial-ballooned proposal to double the annual contribution limit to tax free savings accounts (TFSAs). Really? Which ones? The Society of Retired CEOs? Or maybe the Grey Circle
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: ROCHON on the upcoming federal budget (April 2015)
THE FEDERAL BUDGET AND CANADA’S ANNUS HORRIBILIS See Original post here for the CBC. Canada’s Finance Minister Joe Oliver announced a new – and long overdue – federal budget for April 21. With the Canadian economy doing so badly, this budget will be crucial. Will the minister do the right
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: G20 meeting of world finance ministers too little too late
Posted earlier as an opinion piece for CBC. See original post here (this post slightly modified from original) By Louis-Philippe Rochon Follow him on Twitter @Lprochon Much was at stake earlier this week when finance ministers from G20 countries met in Istanbul to discuss Greece and the state of the world
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Rochon Asks: “Is the Canadian economy unraveling?”
In a recent CBC blog post, Louis-Philippe Rochon assesses the current state of the Canadian economy. The link to the blog post is here. Follow him on Twitter @Lprochon.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Don’t Play Tories’ Game on “Risk” of Deficit
Acres of newsprint have been devoted in recent weeks to the possibility that lower oil prices might push the federal budget back into a deficit position. As I argue in my column in today’s Globe and Mail, this drama is mostly political theatre — and progressives should be cautious about
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Louis-Philippe Rochon’s Top 10 Economic Predictions for 2015
Louis-Philippe Rochon has written a provocative blog post for the CBC titled “Top 10 Economic Predictions for 2015.” The post is available here.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Bank of Canada, Exports, and LMI
Much has been made about Stephen Poloz’s decision to abandon ‘forward guidance’ in Bank of Canada rate setting announcements for the time being. Critics bemoan the loss of direction from the Bank. But Poloz’s comments yesterday were chock full of guidance on how the Bank sees Canada’s economic situation. Having
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Corporate Cash Stash Surpasses National Debt
Today’s National Balance Sheet Accounts indicate that the amount of cash held by private non-financial corporations in Canada soared from $591 billion in the third quarter of 2013 to $626 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013. Corporate Canada’s accumulated stock of cash now exceeds the federal government’s accumulated deficit,
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Alternative Federal Budget would lift 855,000 Canadians out of poverty: Think Tank
by: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives | Press Release CCPA Alternative Budget 2014 OTTAWA — The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) warns a so-called “do-nothing” federal budget is anything but, and is likely to worsen Canada’s slowing economy. The CCPA’s 2014 Alternative Federal Budget (AFB) shows what the federal government could do
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 reading