Economy and economic indicators

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The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a study showing that, for the first time in 30 years, six red-hot real estate markets are in a synchronized housing bubble. The Centre’s Trish Hennessy interviewed the study’s author, CCPA Research Associate David Macdonald, to learn more about the problem.
For the first time in 30 years, six of Canada's hottest real estate markets are in a housing bubble. This study examines trends in house prices in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Ottawa between 1980 and 2010 and finds price increases in those cities are outside of a historic comfort level.
OTTAWA – For the first time in 30 years, a synchronized housing bubble has spread to six red-hot real estate markets in Canada, says a report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). Canada’s Housing Bubble: An Accident Waiting to Happen examines trends in house prices in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Ottawa between 1980 and 2010 and finds price increases in those cities are outside of a historic comfort level.
Every recession ushers in a rising tide of poverty. As jobless and underemployed people struggle to make ends meet, the nouveau poor swell the ranks of the déjà poor. The most recent statistical update on incomes in Canada was released in June, telling us that in 2008, as the nation headed into a brutal recession, there were just over 3 million Canadians living in poverty in this country using the standard meas- ure, Statistic Canada’s after-tax low-income cut-off (LICO).
The media report that the Canadian Taxpayers Foundation (CTF) wants to open up shop in Atlantic Canada. Is this a good thing for our region?
Speech to the Couchiching 2010 Summer Conference Watershed Moment or Wasted Opportunity, a 3 day conference on the significance of this recession and the nature of the recovery.  Armine presented on the "Role of the Government" panel, with Tom Flanagan and Alex Himelfarb, August 6, 2010. --------
Regina — The Saskatchewan office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has released a new study on the economic costs of pursuing nuclear power in Saskatchewan. "In the Red: The Green Behind Nuclear Power," authored by policy researcher Heath Packman, critically examines the economic costs that the construction of a nuclear reactor in our province would entail.
Two years ago, most Canadians were enjoying the peak of a 10-year economic growth phase that helped rank Canada among the 10 biggest economies on the planet. Then, in the fall of 2008, the global economic meltdown came crashing down on Canada, knocking hundreds of thousands of workers into unemployment. According to Statistics Canada, child poverty in this country stood at 9 per cent in 2008 — down slightly from 9.4 per cent the previous year but certainly no harbinger of what was to come.
A few months back, Jim Stanford – in a provocative article entitled “When in doubt, blame unions” – noticed a troubling trend. Stanford observed that the current recession seemed to unleash a wave of public resentment against labour unions – as people, fearful of their own economic security – turned their anxieties against the supposed superior economic position of union members.