Jul 21 2015 — Andrew Jackson — National Newswatch — A new study from the Fraser Institute argues that expanding the Canada Pension Plan or CPP and raising contribution rates to increase benefits would reduce private retirement savings on almost a dollar for dollar basis. Thus they say a bigger CPP would do little to improve retirement income security. The key problem with the study […]
Jul 16 2015 — Andrew Jackson — Toronto Star — The bad economic news from authoritative sources keeps on coming, reinforcing the case for a major change in federal government policy. Hot on the heels of an International Monetary Fund forecast that growth in Canada would be just 1 per cent over this year, the Bank of Canada said yesterday in its Monetary Policy Report […]
Apr 8 2015 — Andrew Jackson — National Newswatch — Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, chaired by economist Chris Ragan and made up of eminent mainstream economists and several business representatives, is championing carbon pricing and other fiscal measures to deal with climate change. This is all to the good. Its approach, however, is altogether too friendly to business-as-usual policies. In its first report, the Commission endorsed the […]
Nov 12 2014 — Andrew Jackson — National Newswatch — What is a Fiscal Surplus For? For the Harper Conservatives, a fiscal surplus is the means to provide tax cuts for the affluent while posing as good fiscal managers. To achieve a balanced budget, the federal government has imposed deep cuts to federal program spending. The impact of these cuts on services to Canadians is […]
Oct 14 2014 — Andrew Jackson — Broadbent Institute — Leader of the Opposition Thomas Mulcair has launched a new round of debate over the need for a national child care and early learning program. The NDP poposal would help the provinces to finance quality, affordable child care systems, delivered by regulated providers in place of the current patchwork quilt of formal and informal care of varying […]
Sep 8 2014 — Andrew Jackson — National Newswatch — The Leader of the Opposition, Tom Mulcair, is to be congratulated for his proposal to re-introduce a federal minimum wage. Abolished in 1996, the federal minimum wage applied to the approximately 8% of all employees who work in federally regulated industries. It also used to set a national benchmark for provincial minimum wages. Mr. Mulcair’s proposal is […]
Jul 15 2014 — Andrew Jackson — Broadbent Institute — he Conservative Party recently launched the “We’re better off with Harper” campaign with the claim that “with over one million net new jobs created in the recovery, Canada’s economy is on the right track – thanks to the strong leadership of Stephen Harper and Canada’s Conservatives.” The number in that claim is carefully chosen, and […]