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  • Faith, Hope, and Spin

    Canada’s preparedness for oil spill crisis sadly lacking For Canadians wondering about our preparedness for a major oil spill, an item in The Montreal Gazette (June 6) was not reassuring. It stated that Canada was sending “half of its stock of oil containment boom – some 3,000 meters (1.8 miles)…

  • Recession, Recovery and Transformation: Revisiting the Role of Government

    Couchiching Summer Conference 2010: Watershed Moment or Wasted Opportunity? Speech to the Couchiching 2010 Summer Conference Watershed Moment or Wasted Opportunity, a 3 day conference on the significance of this recession and the nature of the recovery.  Armine presented on the “Role of the Government” panel, with Tom Flanagan and…

  • Rolling Thunder Census Review

    The sound of backlash to the government’s decision on cutting the Census long-form questionnaire continues to rumble across the country. Tuesday’s Globe and Mail published a story on the topic as well as a column by Andre Picard which was drawn primarily from the open letter on this blog. The…

  • Regulation needed for credit card companies: report

    READ THE FULL REPORT HERE. OTTAWA—The new federal Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada doesn’t do enough to protect consumers or address the stability of the payments system, says a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). The report Credit Card…

  • Saskatchewan labour laws violate Charter: Study

    READ THE FULL REPORT HERE. Regina — The Saskatchewan office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is releasing University of Regina business administration professor S. Muthu’s study, Restoring the Bargain: Contesting the Constitutionality of the Amendments to the Saskatchewan Trade Union Act, a thorough analysis of the constitutionality of…

  • Contracting Out: Enough to make you sick

    There is now an accumulation of evidence, both international and domestic, that contracting out is good — but only if you happen to own shares in MDS, Sodexho, LifeLabs, Compass, Aramark or any number of other piggybackers. Unfortunately, if you are merely a patient, taxpayer and/or hospital worker you are…

  • An Open Letter to Margaret Wente

    We need to think more analytically about harm reduction This is an updated form of a letter I sent to Globe & Mail columnist Margaret Wente in response to her attacks on Vancouver’s harm reduction program. Her first four columns on this topic appeared in the Globe and Mail in…

  • September 2008: A New Pension Debate?

    Most workers today are facing bleak retirement prospects Back in the 1960s and 1970s, there was a big Canadian pensions debate, centred mainly on the issue of how to address the then pressing problem of poverty and income security in old age. Launched by the NDP, the labour movement and…

  • May 2008: The Truth About Canada

    Some truly appalling things we should know about our country The Truth about Canada: Some Important, Some Astonishing, and Some Truly Appalling Things All Canadians Should Know About our Our Country, by Mel Hurtig, Douglas Gibson Books at McLelland & Stewart Ltd., Toronto, 360 pages, $34.99. * * * In…

  • December 2007: The Rise of Media Literacy

    Creating an un-brainwashed generation is a noble calling During the B.C. teachers’ strike a few years ago—a strike over violations of their bargaining rights that later produced a Supreme Court ruling in their favour—the province’s media predictably denounced the teachers and flagrantly distorted their actions and motives. When a large…

  • Many Canadians may be forced to work longer, delay retirement—report

    OTTAWA—As the leading edge of the baby boom generation reaches its late 50s, concern is growing about labour shortages and the affordability of pension programs. Governments are abolishing mandatory retirement, abandoning early retirement incentives, and considering raising the age of eligibility for public pensions. As a result, Canadians may be…

  • Will Nova Scotia Greens be up to green challenge?

    Does Nova Scotia need a new political party? Some environmentalists think so. A founding convention for a Nova Scotia Green Party was recently held. Participants agreed to an organizational structure and selected a leader, Nicholas Wright, a business and law student in Halifax. There is no question that environmental issues…