On January 26, the HRM Council will again address municipal tax reform proposals. But the proposals are merely piece-meal changes. We need to ask and answer fundamental questions about how municipalities raise revenue and develop an easier-to-implement and fairer alternative approach. When asked whether he liked to pay taxes, American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes
Inequality and poverty
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and the Winnipeg Free Press recently called on the Manitoba government to abandon a policy established in 1999 of mandating annual increases in the minimum wage. The CFIB ("Business group rejects hike to minimum wage," December 26, 2009) says an increase in the minimum wage now would hurt some small employers. The WFP ("Not now," December 31, 2009) concurs.
We believe that holding the line on the minimum wage would be the worst thing the government could do in the present circumstances.
Canadians may have been hit hard by a worldwide economic recession, but it appears Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs are enjoying a soft landing.
The total average compensation for Canada's 100 highest paid CEOs was $7,300,884 in 2008—a stark contrast from the total average Canadian income of $42,305. They pocketed what takes Canadians earning an average income an entire year to make by 1:06 pm January 4—the first working day of the year.
TORONTO—Canadians may have been hit hard by a worldwide economic recession, but it appears Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs are enjoying a soft landing.
A report on executive compensation by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), a progressive think tank, reveals Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs pocketed an average $7.3 million in 2008, the year recession broadsided the nation.
“Canada’s top 100 CEOs earned 174 times more than the average Canadian wage,” says economist Hugh Mackenzie, CCPA Research Associate.
"Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary." —Martin Luther King Jr.
Canadians are incredibly generous. According to the Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, almost 23 million Canadians – 84% of the population aged 15 and over – made a financial donation to a charitable or other nonprofit organization in 2007.
During the Depression of the 1930s, the League for Social Reconstruction (LSR), a progressive think-tank, emerged in Eastern Canada, while a new political party, the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was born in Calgary. The Regina Manifesto and its 14-point program, initially written by LSR academics, was approved by the delegates attending the first full national CCF convention in 1933.
Don’t worry, be happy. As of this writing, media coverage of the recession has been littered with smiling faces. Sure, the recession provoked alarming comparisons with the Great Depression. But don’t let that scare you. Now everyone from the governor of the Bank of Canada to the chattiest newspaper columnists sees “green shoots” of economic recovery.
For the past five years, CCPA Manitoba has conducted inner-city research in collaboration with community-based organizations. The purpose of our research has been to chronicle the progress being made and to identify where problems continue to exist and how they might be addressed. As was the case in past years, our community partners identified the focus of this year's research. Poverty, they tell us, continues to be the root of all inner-city challenges.
“What most people just don’t get,” she stated, “is that it takes all day to be poor.” Those words, spoken by one of CLOUT’s member representatives, have taken on a life of their own. Its simple, but profound message is that we need to take the time to examine the details of being poor, not just the superficial images that prop up stereotypes. Details force us to wonder if we could handle their situation any better and to recognize the myriad of support we tap into every day to maintain our privileged standard of living, support that most of us take for granted.
Look around the world, and you will see example after example of nations conductimg a risky social experiment of "letting the market rule." However, not all societies have succumbed to these pressures- some resist having market principles determine their quality of life.
This document examines the way "letting the market rule" is destablizing Canadian society.