Classifying Heterodox Economics (guest post from Marc Lavoie)
This is a guest post from Prof. Marc Lavoie, emeritus professor of economics at the University of Ottawa and winner of the 2025 Galbraith Prize from the Progressive Economics Forum…
Jim Stanford
More Nonsensical Canada-Ireland Comparisons
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre recently circulated a post on several social media platforms claiming that Canada’s manufacturing industry has atrophied under excessive regulation and high energy prices to an extent…
Latest Data Confirms U.S.-Canada Trade is Uniquely Balanced
Just in time for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s meeting with Donald Trump in Washington, the U.S. Census Bureau has released year-end 2024 data on America’s bilateral trade flows in goods…
Yes, Virginia, Supermarket Profits are Still a Thing
Canada’s federal election has focused quite appropriately on the existential economic and sovereignty threat posed by Donald Trump. But there are other issues on voters’ minds, too, and continued concerns…
Amazon closures an act of economic terrorism
Amazon’s message to workers is clear, writes Jim Stanford. Don’t even think about demanding better wages and conditions—we will shut you down and destroy your life. Photo by Elliott Brown/Flickr.…
Interrogating the ‘Vibecession’
There are encouraging signs that Canada’s economy and labour market are improving after a period of stagnation brought about by the Bank of Canada’s aggressive interest rate hikes in 2022…
New U.K. Government Signals Ambition on Labour Reforms
The new UK government is signaling some reasonably ambitious reforms on the labour policy front (certainly more ambitious than most were expecting, given the Labour Party’s austere pre-election rhetoric and…
Banning Replacement Workers
After decades of lobbying and advocacy by Canadian trade unions, the federal Parliament unanimously passed legislation to ban the use of replacement workers (or ‘scabs’) during strikes and lockouts in…
Ten reasons we can’t blame the carbon tax for inflation
From the onset of the post-COVID surge in inflation, Canada’s new breed of right-wing populists has worked hard to pin the blame for higher prices on the federal government. They…
Getting ready for the global financial crisis 2.0
Last week, $1.4 trillion in assets of Credit Suisse were transferred to another huge Swiss bank, UBS, in a fire sale orchestrated by the Swiss government and central bank. Photo…
Deconstructing Loblaw’s inept self-justification
Loblaw’s inept efforts on social media to justify its super-sized inflation-fueling profits provide an opportune moment to remind shoppers of the crucial economic facts regarding supermarket profitability. Photo from Flickr.…
Is the Economy “Running Hot”? Or Cold, and Getting Colder?
The Bank of Canada is widely expected to increase its policy interest rate again this week, for the eighth time in the last 10 months. Media and financial market commentary…
Yes, Virginia, Supermarket Profits HAVE Expanded
Supermarket executives were up on Parliament Hill this week, appearing before the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food’s inquiry into food inflation grocery chain profits. They repeated the now-familiar argument…
Direction of post-COVID reconstruction at stake in federal election
A street mural dedicated to frontline workers in Toronto by artist Gosia Komorski. Photo by Francesco Mariani/Flickr. Canada’s economy experienced a tectonic shock during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession.…
Canada’s Secret Weapon in Fighting Climate Change: Great Trade Unions
U.S. President Joe Biden has been pushing the envelope in bringing America back into the Paris Accord process, setting more ambitious targets for reducing U.S. emissions, and committing to very…
Cutting Taxes in a Depression is Like Pushing on a String
BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson today announced a plan to completely eliminate the provincial sales tax (currently 7%) for 1 year, and then cut it by 4 points (or 57%)…
Remembering John Loxley
The progressive economics community, in Canada and around the world, lost a wonderful colleague, comrade and friend with the passing of John Loxley on July 28, 2020. Here I would…
StatCan says 13% of Canadians aren’t working—but the true number is more like 30%
A construction worker on site in Toronto. Photo by Jeanne Menjoulet/Flickr. Statistics Canada has just released its monthly labour force report for April. It’s the first monthly release that captures…
Guest Blog: Prof. Harry Glasbeek on Coronavirus and capitalism
The legendary Prof. Harry Glasbeek of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University has penned the following commentary on how the COVID-19 pandemic is revealing and reinforcing the deep flaws…
Federal Support Package: The Pros, the Cons, and the Next Shoe to Drop
Here are some quick thoughts on the extensive package of emergency measures announced today by Prime Minister Trudeau, Finance Minister Morneau, and Bank of Canada Governor Poloz: The Pros: The…