This is a guest post from Prof. Marc Lavoie, emeritus professor of economics at the University of Ottawa and winner of the 2025 Galbraith Prize from the Progressive Economics Forum for his lifetime contributions to heterodox theory and practice in Canada and around the world. Prof. Lavoie was recently invited by SSHRC to provide input to a restructuring of the […]
Read moreChapter 11 of my open access textbook has just been released. This chapter focuses on homelessness experienced by 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals. A ‘top 10’ summary of the new chapter can be found here: https://nickfalvo.ca/homelessness-among-2slgbtqia-individuals/ All material related to the book can be found here (free of charge): https://nickfalvo.ca/book/
Read moreI was recently a guest on the On the Way Home podcast. We discussed: the importance of researchers working collaboratively with practitioners; insufficient federal funding for homelessness across Canada; and the importance of operating funding for affordable housing. People can watch or listen to the episode here:
Read moreI recently did a podcast on Canada’s National Housing Strategy—specifically on how the Strategy missed the mark on homelessness. Here’s the link (it’s 40 min’s long): https://thepublicationcoop.substack.com/p/canadas-so-called-homelessness-strategy
Read moreI recently organized a study tour of Helsinki; its focus was affordable housing and homelessness. Here’s a ‘top 10’ overview: https://nickfalvo.ca/affordable-housing-and-homelessness-in-helsinki-finland/
Read moreI recently served as a subject matter expert for an audit of supportive housing undertaken by the City of Ottawa’s Office of the Auditor General. Here are 10 things know:
Read moreI recently organized a homelessness study tour of Edmonton and Calgary for the Toronto Alliance to End Homelessness. Here’s a ‘top 10 overview of the study tour:https://nickfalvo.ca/homelessness-and-supportive-housing-in-alberta/
Read moreConservative leader Pierre Poilievre recently circulated a post on several social media platforms claiming that Canada’s manufacturing industry has atrophied under excessive regulation and high energy prices to an extent “unmatched across the industrialized world.” It purported to show that Canada’s manufacturing sector is now smaller than Ireland’s—a country with one-eighth of Canada’s population. This, he argued, is due to […]
Read moreJust in time for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s meeting with Donald Trump in Washington, the U.S. Census Bureau has released year-end 2024 data on America’s bilateral trade flows in goods and services. This data reconfirms that the U.S trade deficit is neither new, nor an “emergency” (as Trump has claimed in order to invoke special emergency powers to set tariffs). […]
Read moreI recently delivered a full-day in-person workshop at CHRA’s National Congress on Housing and Homelessness, held in Saskatoon. The workshop was titled “The intersection of housing and homelessness.” All course material is now available here (free of charge):https://nickfalvo.ca/courses/
Read moreCanadians will vote in a general election on April 28. Here’s my ‘top 7’ overview of the Liberal Housing Plan: https://nickfalvo.ca/the-liberal-housing-plan/.
Read moreYesterday I gave a keynote address at a University of Alberta event. Here’s a link to the blog post that summarizes my remarks:https://nickfalvo.ca/what-lies-ahead-for-community-level-homelessness-planning-in-alberta/
Read moreCanada’s federal election has focused quite appropriately on the existential economic and sovereignty threat posed by Donald Trump. But there are other issues on voters’ minds, too, and continued concerns with ‘affordability’ rank high on that list. Incidentally, on that point the Centre for Future Work’s recent report, Counting the Costs: Impacts of the 2022 Oil Price Shock for Canadian […]
Read moreI recently co-authored a report on the need for more rental housing for francophone seniors in minority situations. Here’s a ‘top 10’ overview of the report: https://nickfalvo.ca/subsidized-housing-for-francophone-seniors-in-minority-situations/
Read moreI’ve just published Chapter 10 of my open access textbook. This chapter focuses on homelessness experienced by older adults. A ‘top 10’ overview of the chapter can be found here: https://nickfalvo.ca/homelessness-among-older-adults/
Read moreI confess: I was disappointed when the Justin Trudeau Liberals won the fall 2015 election. I was hoping for an orange break-through. So, it comes with some irony that I find myself defending the economic policy legacy of the Justin Trudeau Liberal government nine years hence. The acute drama that unfolded in December with the Finance Minister’s resignation ahead of […]
Read moreThere are encouraging signs that Canada’s economy and labour market are improving after a period of stagnation brought about by the Bank of Canada’s aggressive interest rate hikes in 2022 and 2023. Newly released data for the third quarter of 2024 (July-September) shows the economy has continued to grow, albeit slowly. Consumer spending was the brightest light in the third […]
Read moreI’ve written a book chapter on the COVID-19 pandemic and homelessness planning in Canada. Here’s a ‘top 10’ overview:https://nickfalvo.ca/covid-19-and-homelessness-planning-in-canada/
Read moreEric Latimer and I recently wrote a report for the Province of Québec about demand-side housing assistance for low-income households. A ‘top 10’ overview of the report can be found here: https://nickfalvo.ca/demand-side-housing-assistance-for-low-income-households-in-quebec/
Read moreI recently delivered my Homelessness 101 workshop in both English and French. All course material is available free of charge at this link: https://nickfalvo.ca/courses/
Read moreAli Jadidzadeh and I recently undertook some statistical analysis on behalf of Infrastructure Canada (Canada’s lead federal government agency on homelessness). Here’s a ‘top 10’ overview of our analysis: https://nickfalvo.ca/economic-and-social-factors-associated-with-the-use-of-homeless-shelters/
Read moreI’m the lead author of a recent report, commissioned by Vibrant Communities Calgary, looking at factors associated with social disorder on public transit (including social disorder involving people experiencing homelessness). Here’s a ‘top 10’ overview of the report: https://nickfalvo.ca/report-finds-insufficient-daytime-options-for-people-experiencing-homelessness/
Read moreI’ve just released Chapter 9 of my open access textbook. This chapter focuses on youth homelessness. A ‘top 10’ overview of the chapter can be found here: https://nickfalvo.ca/youth-homelessness/
Read moreIn a previous post, I analyzed what Canadian corporations are doing with their profits. I described how across almost every sector of the economy, corporations are distributing more of their profits to owners than they are investing. In this brief post, I’m going to describe what Canadian corporations are doing with funds acquired through issuance of debt and equity securities. […]
Read moreI recently led a research study comparing spending by large Canadian municipalities on homeless-related services and affordable housing. Here’s a ‘top 10’ overview of the study:https://nickfalvo.ca/comparating-municipal-spending-on-housing-and-homelessness-in-canadas-major-cities/
Read moreThe new UK government is signaling some reasonably ambitious reforms on the labour policy front (certainly more ambitious than most were expecting, given the Labour Party’s austere pre-election rhetoric and platform). They call the vision a New Deal for Working People . The policy framework is called A Plan to Make Work Pay. Broad features of the plan were mapped […]
Read moreI recently helped organize a housing and homelessness study tour of London (England). Here’s a ‘top 10’ overview of what we learned:https://nickfalvo.ca/affordable-housing-and-homelessness-in-london-england/
Read moreAfter decades of lobbying and advocacy by Canadian trade unions, the federal Parliament unanimously passed legislation to ban the use of replacement workers (or ‘scabs’) during strikes and lockouts in federally regulated industries (covering about 1 million workers in industries like including finance, interprovincial transportation, and telecommunications). The legislation will take effect in June, 2025. It was supported by all […]
Read moreArmine Yalnizyan, Atkinson Fellow on the Future for Workers – Recipient of the 2023 Galbraith Prize in Economics This lecture was delivered on May 31, 2024, at the Canadian Economics Association Annual Meetings, Toronto Metropolitan University Thank you for the immense honour of being awarded the Galbraith Prize in Economics — and for agreeing to wait a year to hear this […]
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