Search results for “site/Pat Armstrong”

  • The Oil Industry’s Dilbit Cover-Up

    Tar sands bitumen spills harder and costlier to clean up It’s amazing to watch the lengths to which Enbridge and the oil industry will go in pretending that tar sands diluted bitumen (dilbit) is no different from conventional oil. On Aug. 26, the Canadian Press reported that the Northern Gateway…

  • Fast Facts: Canadian Premium Sand Frac Sand Mining Project About to Hit a Financial Wall

    There are important new developments regarding the proposed frac sand operation adjacent to Hollow Water First Nation on the east side of Lake Winnipeg that will have a large impact on the entire project. Canadian Premium Sand (CPS), a publicly traded and Canadian-owned mining company, received an Environmental License from…

  • Canada’s largest companies could easily eliminate pension deficits, but choose shareholder payouts instead: Report

    OTTAWA—Canada’s largest publicly-traded companies could have eliminated their defined benefit (DB) pension deficits five times over with the value of what they chose to pay out to shareholders instead in 2017 alone, according to a new report released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). Put another way, these companies could…

  • First served

    Private pension plan deficits and shareholder repayments in Canada Download 519.7 KB22 pages This report updates research published by the CCPA in 2017, and compares the pension deficits of the roughly 90 companies on the S&P/TSX Composite Index with defined benefit (DB) pension plans to shareholder payouts between 2011 and 2017. These…

  • The implications for Canada of a fast-tracked Trans-Pacific Partnership

    As the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations slouch toward an agreement, supporters have cranked the volume on their praise for what is sometimes called the “NAFTA of the Pacific.” Critics, of which there are a growing number, prefer “NAFTA on steroids” – a sign the 12-country pact can only lead to…

  • Stop tinkering and build an Early Learning and Child Care system: CCPA-NS

    Current patchwork, market-based approach is failing province and families CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT HALIFAX – Nova Sco­tia’s market-based, patchwork approach to Early Learning and Child Care is not working for families is the central message in the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia (CCPA-NS)’s submission to the…

  • Image: Bento Rodrigues, Brazil, one month after the November 2015 breach. © Bruno Milanez, PoEMAS / UFJF

    Tailings dam collapses in the Americas: Lessons learned?

    In fewer than five years, three major dam collapses have occurred in the Americas—the most recent of which killed more than 230 people, and likely killed up to 260; many of the dead have never been recovered from the toxic mining sludge in which they were buried. The disasters that…

  • Time for a Serious Conversation about Natural Gas

    It is pretty clear that the government’s ill-conceived Energy Plan is falling apart. The near religious call for self-sufficiency has been moderated (though not sensibly changed) and the legislated requirement for insurance eliminated. The plan to develop run-of-river and wind IPPs for export has been abandoned. The problem of charging…

  • What happened to the national home care program?

    In 1997, after wide consultation across the country, the federal government’s National Forum on Health concluded that home care should be considered an integral part of publicly funded health services. A year later, the National Conference on Home Care identified home care as a vitally important component of a responsive…

  • Building an Environmentally Sustainable Future for Saskatchewan

    Saskatchewan’s Role in Global Climate Change and the Path to Sustainability Download 1.11 MB 60 pages A new report questions the long-term environmental sustainability of many elements of Saskatchewan’s economic growth strategy. Building an Environmentally Sustainable Future for Saskatchewan: Saskatchewan’s Role in Global Climate Change and the Path to Sustainability…

  • Log exports: waving the white flag of economic defeat

    As more and more raw, unprocessed logs leave British Columbia’s coast in ocean freighters bound for the far side of the world, a common refrain from some in our forest industry is that we have no choice. Because workers in mills in China are paid so little, log buyers there…

  • The roots of our housing crisis: Austerity, debt and extreme speculation

    We’re now 10 years on from the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Or, as our national mythology puts it, 10 years since Canada breathed a deep sigh of relief as the crisis mostly grazed our economy and financial system. Since 2008, we’ve had 10 years of congratulatory back-patting…