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  • Eugene Forsey vs. Maxime Bernier

    Quebec Conservative repeats harmful myths about Confederation When Stephen Harper’s former (and perhaps future?) far-right-hand man in Quebec, Maxime Bernier, denounced the federal “spending power” in a speech at Toronto’s Albany Club last October, I could almost hear my father’s caustic comments. “So that tired old song is being sung…

  • Neo-Con Economics and Canadian Well-Being

    Neoliberalism cause of the worst recession since the 1930s… “The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more  powerful than is  commonly  supposed. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else.”  –John Maynard Keynes *     *     * Ideas matter greatly…

  • Canada’s Afghanistan intervention is a disastrous failure

    Canada has been part of the evolving Afghanistan intervention in a variety of ways since it began in early October 2001, and the substantial 2005-2011 redeployment to Kandahar is having a deep impact on our military and foreign policy. The 2011 withdrawal date for the Canadian combat mission in Kandahar…

  • A new era for measuring poverty in Canada

    Last Thursday’s Statistics Canada release of individual and household income data for 2008 marks a new era in the study of poverty in Canada. Instead of reporting only on the Low Income Cut Offs (LICO), as they used to, Statistics Canada reported on three of the most common measures of…

  • Public Interest Research Project (BC)

    Lies, damned lies and statistics — and your taxes

    Last week, the Fraser Institute released its Consumer Tax Index report, which claims to show that the average Canadian family’s tax bill has increased by a whopping 1,624 per cent since 1961. There are a lot of things wrong with the Fraser Institute’s math. Here are just a few of…

  • Are Canadians paying too much in taxes?

    It’s tax season and people are looking more closely at their incomes and the amount of taxes they pay. The Fraser Institute released their annual Consumer Tax Index report yesterday, claiming that the total tax bill of the average Canadian family now takes up 41.7% of their income. This seems…

  • Expanding CPP most effective means of pension reform: report

    CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT OTTAWA—Expanding the Canada Pension Plan would be the most effective way to ensure all Canadian have adequate retirement incomes, says a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). The report, by pension expert and CCPA Research Associate Monica Townson, provides…

  • BC’s minimum wage is now 22% lower than Ontario’s

    Today, thousands of low wage workers in Ontario are getting a raise of 75 cent per hour, as the province’s minimum wage goes up to $10.25. This makes Ontario the first province to pass the $10 mark, but several other provinces are following closely. Newfoundland’s minimum wage will increase to…

  • Creating a Just Society

    Reducing poverty, inequality will spur economic recovery An economic recovery that is mainly reliant on consumer spending is unavoidably fragile, since most Canadian consumers are now deeply in debt. Going into the Great Recession, the average Canadian household owed $1.40 for every dollar of disposable income. By mid-2009, that figure…

  • Canada’s Afghanistan “mission” cripples democracy at home

    Stephen Harper’s Conservative government shut down Parliament until March, mainly to avoid answering politically embarrassing questions about the torture of Canadian military detainees in Afghanistan. Especially disturbing are the allegations – and mounting evidence — that our military was complicit in this torture of captives by Afghan government “interrogators.” The…

  • Old Age Security system needs strengthening: report

    CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT OTTAWA—Canada’s Old Age Security system needs improvement in order to help ensure the economic security and dignity of Canadians in retirement, says a new report released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). The report, by pension expert and CCPA Research…

  • No End To Unemployment Crisis

    The recession won’t be over till people get back to work The next time someone says the “recession is over,” ask them exactly what they mean. Because it’s increasingly clear that it means different things to different people. And it’s equally clear it doesn’t usually mean that the unemployment crisis…