Search results for “site/economics of childcare”

  • 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…

  • The “New” Saskatchewan: Oklahoma North?

    Of the litany of proposed changes contained in the Saskatchewan government’s Consultation Paper on the Renewal of Labour Legislation in Saskatchewan, the most pernicious is the suggestion that employees be allowed to opt out of paying union dues, yet still receive the full benefits of union membership. This idea is dangerously reminiscent of U.S. right-to-work (RTW) laws…

  • 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 Weight of the One Percent

    Environment hurt more by super-rich than population growth Last October, two things happened that captured media attention. One was the run-up to the birth of the United Nations-selected seven billionth person on Earth. While this was a rather absurd exercise, given the impressive inaccuracy of demographic projections, it does have…

  • Work Life: MB Liquor Between Rock and Hard Place

    The issuance of mandate letters to provincial crown corporations has put management and staff on notice, warning that “the old way of doing things” is over. The preamble for all the letters is the same, with claims that this government is committed to “prudent fiscal management, creating jobs, improving health…

  • Québec Students Strike Over Tuition-Fee Hikes

    This morning, there are more than 65 000 students on strike in Québec. University students, but also college-level students, are walking out of classrooms to reverse the 75% raise in tuition fees over five years announced in the last provincial budget. In the space of a single week, the number…

  • Kevin Falcon’s narrow take on tax options

    BC Finance Minister Kevin Falcon says he is keen to take a fresh look at the BC tax system. He is welcoming new ideas, and he even wants your opinion. He has struck an “expert” panel to review BC’s tax regime, and in early January the government launched an online…

  • Canada’s Self-Imposed Crisis in Post-Secondary Education

    On June 7, I gave a keynote address to the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees Education Sector Conference. My PowerPoint presentation (with full references) can be found at this link. Points I raised in the address include the following: -Canada’s economy has been growing quite steadily over the past three decades, even when…

  • Fast Facts: Changes in practices needed, if we’re serious about reconciliation

    First published in the Winnipeg Free Press April 10, 2019 Offer money to leaders in a cash-poor community to gain support for a resource extraction project. Publicly shun and disenfranchise individuals who don’t agree. Deceive people into signing their support without full information. Divide the community. Commence destructive preparation of…

  • Austerity’s Discontents

    Hennessy’s Index: A number is never just a number Hennessy’s Index is a monthly listing of numbers, written by the CCPA’s Trish Hennessy, about Canada and its place in the world. For other months, visit: http://policyalternatives.ca/index 75 million Number of youth, aged 15-24, who will be unemployed globally this year.…

  • How the Anglo punditocracy demonizes Quebec’s student protests

    Anglo Canada is sticking its fingers in its ears and humming a happy song. Many in the English-speaking punditocracy and media (or perhaps mediocracy?) are doing their best to persuade us that student protests in Quebec are nothing of any consequence. This is getting a little harder to do, now…

  • From Bad to Worse — The Latest in BC Energy Policy

    It is, I suppose, not surprising that the government would step in and effectively terminate the BC Utilities Commission’s hearing on BC Hydro’s rates. The issues and the evidence were getting embarrassing. In its rate application, BC Hydro reported that by 2014  it will be purchasing over 5000 GWh of…