Inequality and poverty

Recently the Brandon Sun published an article and two editorials relating to Labour Minister Jennifer Howard’s announcement that the minimum wage would be increased by 50 cents an hour on October 1, 2010.

(Vancouver) The richest 20% of BC income earners are responsible for almost double the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of those in the lowest income group, according to a new Climate Justice Project brief from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The findings of By Our Own Emissions: The Distribution of GHGs in BC show an increasing carbon footprint in proportion to income and suggest that global warming policies must take inequality into consideration.

There is a shadow side to this recovery that may undo it in the end. Uncertainty is fast becoming the new normal in the labour market, and that has long-term implications for aggregate demand, household indebtedness, and the rate of defaults on mortgages and credit cards. The latest Labour Force Survey results show that -- though there are still 253,000 fewer jobs than when the recession began in October 2008 -- employment growth continues its slow path upward.  This month’s rising head count is driven by part-time jobs.

OTTAWA – Income inequality between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canadians is stubbornly high, says a groundbreaking new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). For every dollar non-Aboriginals earned in 2006, Aboriginal peoples earned only 70 cents – a slight narrowing from 1996 when it was 56 cents for every dollar, say co-authors Dan Wilson and David Macdonald, who dug into 2006 Census data to quantify, for the first time ever, the Aboriginal income gap in Canada.