Search results for “site/Pat Armstrong”

  • Ontario’s Deficit Quandary

    When Politics Trump Economics Download 246.47 KB10 pages As it prepares its budget for 2011 — an election year — the Ontario government faces a strategic choice between two general paths. One path would be responsive to the government’s apparent short-term election year political needs. The other would be consistent…

  • The Real Pirates of the Caribbean

    Tax havens siphon $500 billion a year from gov’t revenues In today’s globalized world, tax evasion is occurring on a massive scale. As corporations and wealthy individuals shift their assets into offshore tax havens, the annual loss in global tax revenues is more than $500 billion. This huge revenue shortfall…

  • Manitoba’s Climate & Green Plan

    Catastrophic Failure of Leadership Last week, the Manitoba government announced it would amend Bill 16, the “Climate and Green Plan,” to eliminate its flat $25/tonne carbon tax, leaving it essentially empty of any real action on climate change. Just a few days later, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—the…

  • Fast Facts: When will they ever learn?

    OECD report repeats flawed analysis The OECD’s latest report on Canada’s economy emphasizes the challenge of rising healthcare costs. It contains several propositions, but only three have received media coverage and acclaim. These are that current trends are “unsustainable”, and that solutions lie in user fees and further privatization. These…

  • Labour Matters

    Work Life: City of Winnipeg should study benefits of in-house waste collection

    This fall Winnipeg City Council will determine the future of waste and recycling collection in our city.  Current contracts with Emterra Environmental and Progressive Waste Services will expire in 2017.  At least eight private companies have expressed interest in putting forward a proposal, and it will be up to council…

  • 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…

  • How BC is short-changing schools and how we can fix it

    Students using 30-year-old textbooks, teachers buying basic supplies, schools permanently on edge of closing—this is the all too common face of public education in British Columbia in 2018. This is despite the past school year seeing the first meaningful injection of funds into BC schools in over a decade. The…

  • Statistics Canada’s Senseless Census Decision

    Open letter to the Honourable Tony Clement, Ministry of Industry and Minister Responsible for Statistics Canada and Munir Sheikh, Chief Statistician, Statistics Canada June 30, 2010 Open letter to the Honourable Tony Clement, Ministry of Industry and Minister Responsible for Statistics Canada and Munir Sheikh, Chief Statistician, Statistics Canada Dear…

  • The “Unsustainability Myth”

    Don’t believe claims Medicare is becoming unaffordable Total health care spending in Canada has been rising in recent years, taking larger shares of government revenues and budgets. It has been accused of “crowding out” government funding of other important public services. Some economists and pundits are now predicting that, left…

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    The problem with BC’s “clean growth” climate rhetoric

    The BC government recently released three “intentions papers” on climate policy—transportation, buildings and industry—all wrapped in the term “clean growth.” In fact, the term “clean” appears more than 70 times in just the introduction to the exercise, Towards a Clean Growth Future in BC. Clean growth is not a commonly…

  • Fast Facts: Poor No More?

    The long hard climb back to economic justice Imagine a Canada where we all have a roof over our heads, childcare for our children, access to education and a job that pays a decent wage. Imagine a Canada where we all can look forward to retiring without financial worry. As…

  • Harper’s flawed federal securities regulation plan

    Stephen Harper loves bragging about Canada’s stellar record of financial regulation. So it is a tad awkward to admit the architecture of Canada’s securities regulation is strictly bush league. Canada has a patchwork of provincial securities regulators, while other countries like the US have federal securities watchdogs (like the Securities…