In contrast to last week’s Census release highlighting stagnant individual earnings, today’s Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) release trumpets rising family income. The political right critiqued coverage of last week’s release for emphasizing individual rather than family income and for not capturing the tax-and-transfer system’s equalizing effects. In particular, the Prime Minister indicated that his government had cut […]
Read moreA salvo from our very own Nick Falvo in today’s Toronto Star: Outrageous but predictable violence Nick Falvo The murder trial of a group of Canadian Forces reservists accused of beating a homeless man to death has grabbed many a headline. But as disturbing as it has been for most of us to read about the trial, the incident could […]
Read moreI just got back from a week in New York City with my wife, in which, among other things, we went to see five Broadway shows (I know the best way to get cheap tickets now). It was during the intermission to Rent that it finally hit me that something must be done about a fundamental injustice in our society. […]
Read moreA great tragedy for the political left has been that, although we represent most of the population’s economic interests, we have only occasionally garnered majority support in the electoral arena. The US Democratic primaries have recently become focussed on the main segment of the American population that has often voted Republican even though its economic interests would be better served […]
Read moreI was recently appointed to the National Statistics Advisory Council and, in that capacity, was present on Thursday and Friday at the last Council meeting for which Ivan Fellegi will hold the post of Chief Statistician. Having served more than 20 years in that post, Fellegi is something of a legend in a town where the typical Deputy Minister serves […]
Read moreIn his latest Maclean’s column, Paul Wells suggests that the Prime Minister’s apparent anger toward various public officials and agencies reflects not his personality, but his ideological crusade against government. Of course, as Wells observes, the Canadian state was greatly diminished during the years preceding Harper’s government. However, Harper undoubtedly aims to continue the trend and is on record arguing […]
Read moreWhat is going on out in Canada’s wild and woolly financial system? First, the Bank of Canada convinces the Department of Finance and the Conservatives that it “needs” expanded powers to purchase a broader range of securities (see my earlier post for why their arguments are not very convincing). And then, earlier this week, a small notice on my Scotiabank […]
Read moreThink back to last October-November. The Canadian dollar went psycho for a few days — rising as high as $1.10. Then it came back down to mere parity with the greenback (leaving us a mere 25% over fair value, measured by PPP). Some time after that, then-Governor Dodge indicated in Senate testimony (on December 6) that he was “relieved” by […]
Read moreMarc recently trumpeted this blog for being ahead of the public debate on several economic issues. However, we have perhaps been slightly behind the curve in commenting on yesterday’s release of income statistics from the 2006 Census. It indicated that, from 1980 through 2005, the median income among full-time Canadian workers remained flat. The median income of the top fifth rose by […]
Read moreWhat follows are my speaking notes for a recent McMaster Labour Studies/CAW educational event – a fair bit of it condensed from some of my earlier pieces but this update may be of interest…. I will talk about our two economies in two senses, growing class divisions, the growing gap between workers and the corporate elite and growing regional/sectoral divisions […]
Read moreFinancial market speculation masquerading as investment is driving me crazy. The business press fails to understand the distinction between buying an asset the delivers a stream of income in the future (a dividend) and buying an asset because of anticipated higher resale price in the future (a capital gain). It is a fundamental difference, and while I have little objection […]
Read moreInitiatives like the Public Library of Science have began to challenge the scientific publishers’ monopoly over the dissemination of research but now that high profile institutions like Harvard are coming on board with their own open access policies it really looks like the end of an era. Earlier this year, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard voted to […]
Read moreAn editorial in today’s Calgary Herald begins with the usual praise for TILMA, but ends by suggesting a new interprovincial deal on healthcare: Yet, for Ottawa to attempt to remedy matters by intruding itself into relations between the provinces would not only provoke reflexive opposition but, even if carried through by force majeure, be unlikely to work. Certainly, the Canada […]
Read more A fascinating tidbit from today’s Statistics Canada release on human activity and the environment (climate change): In 2008, oilsands producers intend to invest $19.7 billion, up 23% after a 31% hike in 2007. This exceeds the total investment plans of $19.6 billion by all manufacturing industries [Chart 1.6 on page 25]. Oilsands investment has surpassed manufacturing because of its rapid […]
Read moreThis morning, the Bank of Canada lowered its key target interest rate from 3.5% to 3%. This welcome move was widely predicted. Perhaps more interestingly, the Bank stated that “some further monetary stimulus will likely be required to achieve the inflation target over the medium term.” Since December, the Bank has begun following the advice that the labour movement provided […]
Read moreYesterday’s Toronto Star contained an interesting article on Leo Gerard, “the most influential Canadian-born Democratic power broker in the United States.”
Read moreAll too often these days I open the newspaper and become quickly convinced that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. But this little snippet (April 14, a Bloomberg story) really got my goat: The University of North Carolina (which was a reputable institution, the last I checked) has accepted a $1 million donation from BB&T Corporation (an […]
Read moreNotwithstanding the newish Saskatchewan government’s public rejection of TILMA, the Canadian Press recently reported: The [Alberta] premier says Bill 1 will be framework legislation to facilitate a sweeping 2007 trade deal with British Columbia known as the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA). “We have to move on it,” says Stelmach. “There are other provinces now waiting to see […]
Read moreThis morning’s Consumer Price Index release reveals that, in March, annual inflation fell to 1.4% and annual core inflation fell to 1.3%. The fact that both rates are well below the Bank of Canada’s 2% target gives it ample room to cut interest rates next week. Even the two highest-inflation provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, are no longer much above the […]
Read moreAs foreshadowed by Andrew, TD Economics has addressed the concerns raised on this blog about its April 15 report by replacing this document with a revised April 16 version. The new endnotes cite the CLC publications and acknowledge that they were “inappropriately left out of the original verson [sic] of the report.” TD has also amended its figures. The April 15 […]
Read moreI have spoken to TD Chief Economist Don Drummond who assures me, as I would assume, that neither he nor Beata Caranci were aware that material had been taken without citation from the CLC studies. The version of the TD study on the web will be revised to add an appropriate citation.
Read moreOK this is silly, but whatever… I was invited to participate in a most excellent annual fund-raising project sponsored by Creative Works Studio — a Toronto initiative that uses art therapy with the mentally ill. They invite a number of so-called “celebrities” (definitely stretching the definition in my case) to actually paint a picture, that gets auctioned off at a […]
Read moreToday, TD Economics released a very interesting paper on the Canadian labour market in 2007. I was pleased to see it highlight many of the same general trends that Andrew and I emphasized: the sharp decline in manufacturing jobs, the increase in part-time work, the rise of self-employment, and wages barely outpacing inflation in Alberta. Parts of the TD paper […]
Read moreThe Federation of Canadian Municipalities released a large poll today — the largest of its type on municipal issues. The poll seems reasonably well done with decent questions and language. Many of the results are to be expected: strongest support for increased funding for health care, with increased funding for local infrastructure as a solid second in terms of priority. What surprised […]
Read moreAs Andrew, Marc, Toby and I pointed-out at the time, despite the low up-front cost of Tax-Free Savings Accounts, they will become exponentially more expensive over time. To obnoxiously quote myself, “this measure could burn a significant hole in future government revenues.” It is worth noting that Jack Mintz, a huge fan of Tax-Free Savings Accounts, suggests essentially the same […]
Read moreToday, Statistics Canada released an excellent paper concluding that the rate of return on investment in Canadian public capital is around 17%. This paper builds on another Statistics Canada paper from a few years ago that Marc cited a few days ago on this blog. If anything, the paper’s text somewhat understates its mathematical findings. The author’s hypothesis was that […]
Read moreIn a commentary last fall in the NY Times, Robert Frank makes the case for consumption taxes to replace the income tax in the US. Yet, while this sounds revolutionary on first reading, what Frank is describing is essentially the Canadian tax system: Under such a tax, people would report not only their income but also their annual savings, as […]
Read moreJim Prentice appears to have done what no previous Liberal or Conservative government had been prepared to for more than two decades under the Investment Canada Act. As the NDP has noted, preventing the takeover of MDA is a small victory for progressives.
Read moreHow about this latest gem from our let-the-market-rule Finance Minister: Les Whittington Ottawa Bureau, TORONTO STAR (APRIL 10) OTTAWA–Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the Conservatives will cut government spending if need be to avoid a budget deficit caused by the economic slowdown. “No deficit – balanced budget,” he said outside the Commons. “We’re not raising taxes,” Flaherty added when asked […]
Read moreOver the years, federal budget legislation has acquired the feel of U.S. omnibus bills (the Farm Bill is probably the quintessential example). To some extent, this is to be expected. Ever since the “disastrous” Trudeau era, the imperial Department of Finance has not-so-quietly re-asserted its domain over the federal bureaucracy. One manifestation of Finance’s power has been the increasing tendency […]
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