TORONTO – Canada’s richest 1% are taking more of the gains from economic growth than ever before in recorded history, says a report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The Rise of Canada’s Richest 1% looks at income trends over the past 90 years and reveals the 246,000 privileged few who rank among the country’s richest 1% took almost a third (32%) of all growth in incomes between 1997 and 2007.
Economy and economic indicators
On November 18, 2010 CCPA celebrated its 30th anniversary with a conference entitled Advancing Democracy and Social Justice in Canada: The Next 30 Years.
Click on the speakers below to watch their talk.
Session One: The Erosion of Democracy and Equality in Canada: What to Do
The province’s NDP government has determined that its support of a new trade and convention centre in Halifax is in the best interest of all Nova Scotians. How did it make this determination? The premier’s comments -- made at the press conference announcing this decision -- suggest that the government’s decision was based on the following notions: 1) Bigger is not just better, but necessary; that is, the current trade centre is not big enough and thus has to turn away business. 2) There will be new jobs created; that is, they claim that at least 1700 construction jobs will be created.
This report documents all 66 known NAFTA investor-state claims (to October 2010) and analyses recent key developments, including the Canadian government’s troubling decision to settle AbitibiBowater’s NAFTA claim by paying the company $CAD 130 million. It finds all levels of government, particularly in Canada, are being targeted by investors for alleged breaches of Chapter 11, NAFTA's investment chapter.
OTTAWA—All levels of government in Canada are increasingly being targeted by investors for alleged breaches of Chapter 11, NAFTA’s investment chapter, says an analysis released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
According to the analysis, by CCPA Senior Trade Researcher Scott Sinclair, as of October 2010, 43% of the known 66 claims under Chapter 11 were made by foreign investors against Canada.
“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly supposed. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else.”
--John Maynard Keynes
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Ideas matter greatly in determining the shape and direction of our society.
Canada already has a large bilateral trade deficit with the EU—$15 billion in goods and close to $4 billion in services, and loses some 70,000 jobs as a result. This study finds a free trade agreement would make that imbalance worse.
The study models three scenarios to provide a range of estimages regarding the likely impacts of EU-Canada free trade. In every case, Canada's bilateral trade balance worsens significantly. The simulations suggest an incredmental loss of between 28,000 and 150,000 Canadian jobs.
When you think about taxes, do you think about the $10,000 having a baby could cost if you lived in the U.S. and didn't have health insurance?
Do you think about an education system that allows even the children of poor families to become doctors, teachers, or engineers?
Government inspectors who make sure highway overpasses are repaired before they fall down, that meat packing plants don't poison their customers, that a city's water is safe to drink?
Read more about what our taxes buy us in this new primer.
While on my summer vacation, I try to isolate myself for a few weeks from the worsening global troubles that beset us all. But this year, try as I might to lose myself in light-reading thrillers and fantasies, worrisome news from the real world kept obtruding.
It was impossible to avoid newspaper and TV reports of BP’s Gulf oil spill, the Harper government’s irresponsible scrapping of the mandatory census form, the continuing economic slump, and the devastating effects of floods, forest fires, and other environmental disasters around the world.
The Harper government loves to refer to Canada’s post-recession track record with the phrase “we’re punching above our weight.”
If only it were true.
When it comes to the true measure of recovery – jobs – Canada is not punching above its weight. In fact, we’re still waiting for a meaningful private-sector-led full-time jobs recovery.