This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Ben Chu reports on the conclusion from the chief economist of the Bank of England that decreased unionization in the UK is responsible for reducing wages for all workers by .75% per year over the past 30 years. – Hassan Yussuff warns
Continue readingTag: Toronto
Babel-on-the-Bay: Who says Dougie’s done?
Looking at the upcoming Toronto municipal election in October, you can end up with more questions than answers. The problem is premier Ford. This guy is not finished with his home town. And they are not finished with him. And they are wasting the taxpayers’ money fighting him. We seem
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Jessica Corbett writes that Earth’s atmospheric carbon concentration has reached levels not seen in 80,000 years, while Jonathan Watts reports on a new study showing that climate change may be pushing our planet toward a “hothouse” state which might threaten human life.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Peter Gowan discusses UK Labour’s push for greater social control over economic development. And Rainer Kattel, Mariana Mazzucato, Josh Ryan-Collins and Simon Sharpe set out a useful framework to evaluate policies which are intended to shape markets rather than merely attempting to fix
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week. – Robert Reich examines how a concerted attack on organized labour has pushed the vast majority of American workers into living paycheque-to-paycheque (or worse) while income and wealth have become increasingly concentrated at the top end of the spectrum: Almost 80% of Americans say
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Surely it’s time for us in the reality based community to act on our convictions as decisively as conservatives do
Surely it’s time for the reality based community – that’s us, my progressive friends – to start making some new democratic realities! In 2015, as you will recall, many of us overcame our reservations and voted for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals on the basis of his firm, clear, unequivocal promise to
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Carey Doberstein’s book on homelessness governance
I’ve just reviewed Professor Carey Doberstein’s book on homelessness governance (UBC Press). The book looks at the way decisions are made pertaining to funding for homelessness programs in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto during the 1995-2015 period. Points raised in my review include the following: -Homelessness trends look quite different across
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Funny Thing Is – It’s Here and What Have We Done to Adapt to It?
You might not have seen video of the dramatic flash flooding that swept the historic town centre of Elliott City, Maryland, but that doesn’t matter. Perhaps you didn’t see the devastation of New York City and the Jersey Shore by Hurricane Sandy. Maybe you’ve been in a coma for the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The malice that made the megacity.
Toronto as a megacity turns 20 this year. Canada’s largest city has once again opened the nominations for its city council to be elected in October. It will be another lost opportunity. It will produce another council of dilettantes and wannabes to argue over meaningless issues. Former conservative premier Mike
Continue readingThings Are Good: This is Systemic Street Safety
The video above demonstrates how communities can transition from an unhealthy, vehicle focused, urban design to a healthy pedestrian design. Regular readers of this site know that streets designed for people are better for communities by making cities healthier and economically more productive. Cars are an clunky way to move
Continue readingThings Are Good: Intersection Design Improved by Using Leaves
Got together with some neighbours and transformed a local intersection with chalk & leaves, revealing a surplus surface area of 2,000 square feet which could be re-designed as a parkette, new sidewalks, and much shorter/safer crossings. More: https://t.co/SNYkMMo0Ui pic.twitter.com/psv0MRTZXi — dave meslin (@meslin) November 29, 2017 Dave Meslin got back
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Why Toronto needs a national housing strategy
Dr. Colin Phillips is an up-and-coming scholar in Canada’s homelessness sector. He has an opinion piece in today’s Toronto Star titled “Why Toronto needs a national housing strategy.” Points made in the opinion piece include the following: -The City of Toronto has worked hard to develop good practices on the
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Income and geographic distribution of low-income renters in Toronto
In this second of a series of housing-related posts I analyze the income and geographic distribution of renter-occupied households in the City of Toronto. My first post focussed on affordability and inequality trends by analyzing time series (2001-16) data for Ontario by household income quintiles. As a complement, this blog
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Fear of Ford.
Is he, or isn’t he? Is Doug Ford running for the mayoralty in Toronto next year or for the Progressive Conservatives in the provincial election? And who cares anyway? Oddly enough that is a matter that is mainly of concern to provincial politicians. Incumbent Mayor John Tory, who wants another
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Housing Affordability and Inequality: Low-Income Renters in Ontario
In this first of a series of housing-related posts I analyze rental housing expenditures for low-income households in Ontario. Rent is the single largest expenditure element for renters in the first and second household income quintiles and is therefore an important indicator of housing affordability and expenditure inequality. This is
Continue readingThings Are Good: Waterproofing Cities for Resiliency
The last month brought a lot of rain to the city of Toronto which has led to the Toronto islands being half submerged and a temporary (and lax) travel ban to be put into effect. The rest of the city has fared slightly better. The city has slowly been improving
Continue readingThings Are Good: First Nations Reserves Across Canada to get Toronto Library Cards
A fantastic way to share stories and knowledge is through books and public library systems. Unfortunately too many indigenous reserves and communities in Canada don’t have access to a library, which is having a negative impact on knowledge sharing. The Toronto Public Library system will be extending their library services
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Desmond Cole, the Toronto Star and Another Existential Crisis for Professional Journalism
DISCLOSURE: I worked as a mainstream news reporter between 2003 and 2012. I see this as a two-fold issue; firstly, actions and secondly, words. I’ll consider both briefly and then elaborate on my concerns. Actions There is no point in rehashing here the now well-known details of what lead to Desmond
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Dan Levin writes that Christy Clark and her B.C. Libs have turned British Columbia into a haven for capital to run wild without any social responsibility or public benefit: Like many places, British Columbia set up a system of tax incentives to lure
Continue readingExcited Delirium: Another Call to Raise Toronto Property Taxes
This piece by Lawrence Solomon is very effective at pointing out the contrast between property taxes applied to landlords versus those that are paid by private homeowners. In Toronto, property taxes for homeowners are disproportionately low, not just compared to local rental costs, but also for property taxes applied across
Continue reading