McGuinty Budget Would Cut Over 100,000 Jobs
Last week, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union released an interesting report by the Centre for Spatial Economics on the economic impact of proposed provincial budget cuts. It provides a…
employment
Who’s a bigger drag on Canada’s future? The old or the young?
This is my latest column for Canadian Business magazine. Giorgio, a hard-working, smart-as-a-whip University of Toronto student, asked me a great question after a recent guest lecture: What if the…
Federal Job Cuts…the Real Numbers
Thankfully the federal budget has started to fill in some of the details of its latest round of cuts. In particular, it now estimates 19,200 positions lost due to its…
Now, to let the money start rolling in…
You’ve likely seen at least one list, published in a newspaper’s ‘business’ section, of tips for how to manage that unruly influx of “young punks” wreaking havoc on workplaces around…
BC isn’t broke: putting teacher bargaining in perspective
Last Monday, BC teachers held a Day of Action in communities across the province to protest the BC government’s decision to legislate a contract and put an end to their…
In the Wake of the Crisis: Bully Capitalism
A shorter version of this article appears today at Economy Lab, the Globe and Mail’s on-line business feature. Capitalism has entered an ugly new era, one that may work well…
US Chamber of Commerce Jobs Plan Rehashes Old, Debunked Talking Points
US_Chamber_of_Commerce_logo-740806.jpg The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released its “The State of American Business 2012” plan this week, outlining their own vision of how to create jobs in America. There were…
Are Enbridge’s job numbers credible?
Putting aside the impact of the proposed Enbridge pipeline on GHG emissions or spills on land and at sea, the case in favour of the pipeline rests on creating jobs.…
Federal Post-Secondary Education Act
Last month, the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) released a document entitled Public Education for the Public Good: A National Vision for Canada’s Post-Secondary Education System. I found the document…
Austerity Kills: Conservative cure worst thing for what ails the economy says Stiglitz
Governments around the world are heading down a path to economic suicide. So said Nobel Prize-winning former chief economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz, to hundreds of well-heeled financiers…
Student Debt Rising Amongst New Physicians
Newly-released data indicate that student debt is rising amongst new physicians in Canada. In 2010, 23 percent of medical residents surveyed estimated having more than $120,000 in education-related debt upon…
The Ontario NDP Platform
Pollsters tell us that Ontario’s New Democrats may double their seat total in next month’s provincial election. It’s also entirely conceivable that they could be part of a coalition government…
BC’s New Jobs Plan
If you are interested in what BC’s new Premier Christy Clark is doing on the job creation front, check out a couple articles on the BC Policy Note blog (here…
Polluters Join Forces To Pressure Obama On Oil And Gas Drilling
Drill_Baby_Drill.jpg In the wake of President Obama’s speech on job creation last week, major players in the energy industry have banded together to put pressure on the president to speed…
“Grade-Boosting” Stimulant Use on Campus
A recent editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal looks at the use of “grade-boosting” stimulants (such as Ritalin) by Canadian post-secondary students. According to the editorial: “Universities and colleges…
Death Of A Talking Point? Regulations Actually Create Jobs
regulations.jpg For years, the Republican Party in America has been on a crusade against what they call “job killing regulations.” A quick Google search for the phrase “job kil...
MMT: What it Means for Canada
Arun Dubois’ blog post yesterday on Modern Monetary Theory has prompted me to write my own take on the subject. For those interested, an interesting thumbnail sketch of MMT, essentially…
How To Fund Innovation
Just over a year ago, I wrote an opinion piece about the federal government’s “innovation strategy” and its impact on the post-secondary education sector. In the piece, I argue that…
Bike Lanes Create Jobs
The University of Massachusetts has completed a new study that shows that bicycle lanes create jobs. As a cyclist, this seems obvious to me since whenever I see a store…
Use University Research to Increase Manufacturing Jobs
Manufacturing jobs have been declinining as a percentage of total jobs in most OECD countries for several decades, with Ontario being especially hard-hit as a jurisdiction. At the end of…