Search results for “site/Pat Armstrong”

  • A whole lotta waste goin’ on

    Last week, research I completed for the CCPA was released suggesting that in the last five years alone the forest industry in this province has managed to leave 17.5 million cubic metres of usable wood behind at logging operations. Loaded onto logging trucks, you could fill a cross-Canada convoy just…

  • Economic Security Project (BC)

    The time is now for a legislated poverty reduction plan

    200 community organizations & leaders to BC political parties CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT On February 5, the CCPA’s BC Office joined with 200 other organizations from across the province as signatories to an open letter calling for a legislated poverty reduction plan. Together these groups launched a…

  • Self-employed workers deserve social benefits

    In Canada, about 2.5 million people (approximately 15 per cent of the labour force) are classified as “self-employed.” Nova Scotia has about 31,000 (12 per cent.) Trend lines show the proportion of such workers has risen steadily in the past three decades, with some spikes in bad economic times. It’s…

  • Economics for Everyone, First Edition

    A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism Economics is too important to be left to the economists. Economics for Everyone is a brilliantly concise and readable book that provides non-specialist readers with all the information they need to understand how capitalism works (and how it doesn’t).  Jim Stanford’s book…

  • Free trade has failed to live up to its promises—study

    CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT OTTAWA— Twenty years after Canada signed the Free Trade Agreement its biggest boosters have grown wealthier but promises ofbetter jobs and rising living standards fell short, says a study released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The Canada-US Free Trade Agreement was…

  • December 2007: The Environmental Keynesian Alternative

    Environmental crisis calls for World-War-II-type collaboration As people become ever-more aware of climate change and ecological crisis, they are worried, anxious, and looking for solutions. Forgive me if I’m a heretic, but I think the time has passed for telling them to change their behaviour and their lightbulbs, claiming that…

  • Hidden Montebello SPP agreement on industrial chemicals will weaken Canadian regulation—report

    CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT OTTAWA—Contrary to assurances from Prime Minister Harper, an SPP regulatory agreement signed at Montebello sets Canada on course toward a single North American regime for regulating industrial chemicals that will almost certainly weaken the existing Canadian regulatory system and erode policy autonomy, says…

  • Fast Facts: “Mean Streets” society coming

    The election this month of a majority Conservative government will change Canada’s political landscape in ways that will be detrimental to most Canadians. Cuts to public spending will be severe and will cause much human damage. Deliberately crafted attempts to shift Canada’s political culture will not only make dissent, but…

  • Temporary foreign workers and the election

    A major issue getting scant debate An election should be a time to discuss key policy directions. One of the biggest policy transformations in the Harper era has been the enormous growth in Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) –– “guest” workers who come to Canada for short periods, generally tied to…

  • La privatisation : le cheval de Troie des services publics

    Une des principales dynamiques de notre époque est la pression exercée sur les gouvernements pour offrir plus de services publics en utilisant moins de ressources. La population vieillit, l’infrastructure urbaine se détériore et, avec l’immigration et la mondialisation croissantes du commerce, tous les paliers de gouvernement font face à une…

  • May 2007: Canada’s Lack of Affordable Housing

    Rent supplements help, but only if landlords cooperate There are many ways in which money for affordable housing can be put to use. Three key methods are: build non-profit housing; provide housing allowances or rent supplements; and provide tax credits for the developers of rental housing. All three methods have…

  • Alternative Federal Budget

    Federal surplus evaporating: Think-tank

    Harper plan at odds with Canadian priorities CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT OTTAWA — The Harper government is on the brink of exhausting its fiscal surplus on a pre-election spending plan that is at odds with what Canadians want, says the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The Centre…