PEF home page and weblog
I’ve just reviewed Professor Carey Doberstein’s book on homelessness governance (UBC Press). The book looks at the way decisions were made pertaining to funding for homelessness programs in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto during the 1995-2015 period. Points raised in my review include the following: -Homelessness trends look quite different across the three cities. For example, […]
Posted by Nick Falvo under aboriginal peoples, Alberta, cities, democracy, fiscal federalism, homeless, housing, Indigenous people, inequality, municipalities, poverty, Role of government, social policy, Toronto.
June 7th, 2018
Comments: 1
I’ve just reviewed a new book about spatial media (and have written it from the vantage point of somebody working in Canada’s homelessness sector). One point raised in the blog post is the fact that the language used when enumerating persons experiencing homelessness has an impact on policy discussions. One point raised in the book […]
Posted by Nick Falvo under aboriginal peoples, Alberta, Canada's North, cities, democracy, homeless, Indigenous people, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, social indicators, telecommunications, Yukon.
July 6th, 2017
Comments: none
I’ve just written a blog post on advocacy in Canada’s affordable housing and homelessness sectors. In the post, I define advocacy as “a collective effort to bring about changes to political priorities, funding levels, legislation, regulations or policies.” I also discuss seven approaches to advocacy in Canada’s affordable housing and homelessness sectors. The full blog […]
Posted by Nick Falvo under aboriginal peoples, democracy, homeless, housing, human rights, Indigenous people, inequality, municipalities, poverty, progressive economic strategies, Role of government, social policy.
April 25th, 2017
Comments: none
This year’s Alternative Federal Budget (AFB) was released on March 9. I was proud to be the primary author of its housing chapter (that chapter is available in English here and in French here). The first AFB exercise began in 1994, with the first AFB being published in 1995. That involved a joint effort between […]
Posted by Nick Falvo under aboriginal peoples, Alberta, Austerity, Bank of Canada, banks, BC, budgets, debt, deficits, democracy, economic crisis, economic growth, economic history, economic literacy, economic models, economic thought, employment, federal budget, feminist economics, fiscal policy, gender critique, housing, income distribution, income tax, Indigenous people, inequality, inflation, interest rates, labour market, macroeconomics, Manitoba, monetary policy, NDP, NEO-LIBERAL POLICIES, Nova Scotia, Ontario, party politics, poverty, progressive economic strategies, public infrastructure, public services, Quebec, Role of government, Saskatchewan, social policy, stimulus, taxation, unemployment, women.
March 20th, 2017
Comments: none
Do you ever lie awake wondering what it is that Finance Canada, the Privy Council Office and Treasury Board Secretariat actually do?? Well, wonder no more my friends!? Over at the web site of the Calgary Homeless Foundation, I’ve written a blog post titled “Ten things to know about central agencies in Canada.” Here’s the […]
Posted by Nick Falvo under budgets, Canada, democracy, economic literacy, economic risk, federal budget, fiscal policy, progressive economic strategies, public services, regulation, Regulations, Role of government, social policy.
August 8th, 2016
Comments: none
The Harper government gives five reasons why Canadians ought to be happy with its proposal to double the maximum contribution to the Tax-Free Savings Account. Examine each of its points more closely, however, and it’s clear that the TFSA carries far higher risks than rewards for individual Canadians as well as for the economy as […]
Posted by Armine Yalnizyan under Conservative government, democracy, income distribution, inequality, population aging, Role of government, seniors, taxation, TFSA.
March 2nd, 2015
Comments: 2
This is a guest blog post from Louis-Philippe Rochon. Follow him on Twitter @Lprochon. — What a tumultuous few weeks we witnessed in Greece. Though the victory of Syriza was ill-received in particular in Germany and the European Central Bank, it was nonetheless a resounding victory for democracy. This victory may now spill into other […]
Posted by Nick Falvo under Austerity, debt, democracy, economic crisis, economic growth, Europe, exchange rates, Greece, monetary policy, progressive economic strategies.
February 10th, 2015
Comments: 4
Over at the blog of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Ottawa U professor Mario Seccareccia has given an interview titled “Greece Shows the Limits of Austerity in the Eurozone.?? What Now?” The interview can be read here. Enjoy and share:
Posted by Nick Falvo under banks, budgets, capitalism, debt, deficits, deflation, democracy, economic crisis, economic history, Europe, exchange rates, financial crisis, Greece, IMF, inflation, monetary policy, recession, taxation, unemployment, wages.
February 5th, 2015
Comments: none
What follows is a guest post by Craig Jones, former Executive Director of the John Howard Society of Canada. Champions of harsher justice measures in the Harper government would have us believe that longer sentences are a win-win-win: for victims, for safe streets and for future victims. To that end, the government enacted a number […]
Posted by Nick Falvo under Conservative government, democracy, human rights.
March 14th, 2014
Comments: 1
This afternoon I spoke on a panel on university governance at a conference titled Future U:?? Creating the Universities We Want, organized by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.?? Also presenting on the panel were Professor Glen Jones and Professor Claire Polster. Future U: Creating the Universities We want Future U: Creating the Universities […]
Posted by Nick Falvo under democracy, education, post-secondary education.
February 27th, 2014
Comments: 1
Watching Rob Ford in the recent weeks reminds me of what John Ralston Saul once wrote of Benito Mussolini and his contemporary reincarnation in Silvio Berlusconi: a€?He was the nascent modern Heroic leader. Mussolini combined the interests of corporatism with public relations and sport, while replacing public debate and citizen participation with false populism and […]
Posted by Wenonah Bradshaw under budgets, cities, democracy, progressive economic strategies.
November 28th, 2013
Comments: 1
On November 25th, I made the following submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance regarding Bill C-4, Economic Action Plan 2013 Act No. 2, on behalf of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. ?? ??1.???????? Introduction and Context Thank you for the invitation to appear before the Committee, as Members of Parliament […]
Posted by Armine Yalnizyan under Conservative government, democracy, federal budget, fiscal policy, immigration, labour market, Role of government.
November 27th, 2013
Comments: 1
Almost a year ago, Paul Krugman wrote a blog post entitled a€?Inaction is the Greatest Risk.a€? He was addressing American monetary policy, but the same theme applies to Saskatchewan politics. Much as Krugman warned readers upfront that his post was a€?wonkish,a€? Ia€?ll admit that the following is a€?hackish.a€? For several months, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall […]
Posted by Erin Weir under democracy, NDP, Saskatchewan.
November 7th, 2013
Comments: 3
This piece was ??published??today in the Globe and Mail’s Economy Lab.?? Two findings stand out in the National Household Survey (NHS) data released Wednesday, both critical in this post-recession era of uncertainty: 1)??A quarter of Canadian households spent 30 per cent or more of their pre-tax income on shelter, the official measure of housing affordability. […]
Posted by Armine Yalnizyan under Conservative government, democracy, household debt, housing, income, income distribution, inequality.
September 12th, 2013
Comments: 1
Forty economists, including many Progressive Economics Forum members, have signed the following statement (PDF version): We write to endorse Linda McQuaiga€?s candidacy for the upcoming federal by-election in Toronto Centre. Linda has deep roots in Toronto Centre, having been born in the riding and lived in it for many years. She is also well-known across […]
Posted by Erin Weir under democracy, NDP, Toronto.
September 3rd, 2013
Comments: 15
Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein has interviewed the presumptive Liberal candidate in Toronto Centre, Chrystia Freeland, who declares, a€?Ia€?m a capitalist red in tooth and claw.a€? To his credit, Klein asks her a couple of times for policy specifics. She concludes the interview by saying: My job right now is to win the right to […]
Posted by Erin Weir under Blogroll, democracy, liberals, media, NDP, Toronto.
August 17th, 2013
Comments: 7
For the a€?You Read It Here Firsta€? file, I wrote on Friday: Toronto Centre needs a candidate with a track record of advancing more substantive and more progressive positions on economic issues. Specifically, the NDP should nominate someone who can take on Freeland regarding inequality and what to do about it. Today, Linda McQuaig announced […]
Posted by Erin Weir under BC, democracy, inequality, liberals, NDP, Toronto.
August 6th, 2013
Comments: 7
Chrystia Freeland, The Globe and Maila€?s candidate in Toronto Centre, recently wrote a book about inequality (which I have not yet read) and is supposed to a€?bring fresh thinking to the Liberal Partya€?s economic team.a€? She has already attracted a few jabs from right-wingers Terence Corcoran and William Watson. But is she progressive? The Globe […]
Posted by Erin Weir under democracy, inequality, liberals, media, NDP, Terry Corcoran, Toronto.
August 2nd, 2013
Comments: 7
Today’s CBC Edition Business Panel focused on the proposal by Fraser Surrey Docks to build a new coal terminal on the Fraser river to export US thermal coal (if you missed it, here’s the recording starting at 1:50). This may seem like a local issue for the West Coast, but the arguments stand for most […]
Posted by Iglika Ivanova under big business, cities, climate change, democracy, development, energy, environment.
June 18th, 2013
Comments: 5
L. Ian MacDonald wrote??a defence of the Senate in todaya€?s Montreal Gazette. He makes the familiar argument that it provides useful study of policy issues. However, his first example is the 2002 Senate report supporting bank mergers. In the wake of the global financial crisis, we should be glad that opposition MPs like Lorne Nystrom […]
Posted by Erin Weir under banks, democracy, media.
May 29th, 2013
Comments: 2
Readers of this blog will have hopefully read my report “The big banks big secret”??which examines the $114 billion that Canada’s banks received during the 2008-09 financial crisis. ??Its major finding was that at some point three of Canada’s five??big banks had received support worth more than their market capitalization, or the value of all […]
Posted by David Macdonald under Bank of Canada, banks, democracy, economic crisis, financial crisis, financial markets, financial regulation, fiscal policy, global crisis, monetary policy.
June 8th, 2012
Comments: 4
Ia€?ve commented on federal job cuts many times before (here, here, here & here) and in the interests of beating this particular horse good and dead (no animals were harmed in the writing of these reports), the CCPA today is releasing my latest update on the matter: Clearing away the fog: Government Estimates of job […]
Posted by David Macdonald under Conservative government, democracy, employment, federal budget, unemployment.
May 17th, 2012
Comments: 2
A shorter version of this article appeared today in the Globe and Mail’s Economy Lab Have you noticed how common it has become to talk about replacing workers with even cheaper workers? If you’re looking over your shoulder, you’re not paranoid; you’re paying attention. There’s probably a cheaper you out there.?? And in Canada, the […]
Posted by Armine Yalnizyan under democracy, demographics, economic growth, employment, immigration, temporary workers.
May 3rd, 2012
Comments: 1
??Last Thursday I was at an event on the issue of rising income inequality, sponsored by Canada 2020. It featured one of the authors of the recent OECD report on inequality, who highlighted the a€?skills biased technological change or SBT a€? hypothesis so favoured by mainstream economists who desperately avoid discussion of inequality as a […]
Posted by Andrew Jackson under democracy, inequality, party politics, unions.
January 21st, 2012
Comments: 2
Here’s a guest post from Ben Gillies, a political economy grad from the University of Manitoba. Canadians Must Not Let Dubious Political Tactics Turn Us Off Politics Altogether By Benjamin Gillies Last week, the Conservatives admitted their party was behind a rash of phone calls to Liberal Irwin Cotlera€?s federal riding in Montreal, in which […]
Posted by Marc Lee under Conservative government, democracy, party politics.
December 14th, 2011
Comments: none
Rabble.ca is running a series of reflections on the tenth anniversary of the New Politics Initiative, which sought to create a more democratic politics in Canada ideally as part of a revitalized NDP. The vision statement is here; my piece follows, and there are also contributions from Judy Rebick??and??Jim Stanford. Altogether these make for a […]
Posted by Marc Lee under climate change, democracy, inequality, NDP, progressive economic strategies.
November 29th, 2011
Comments: 5
Last month, the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS)??released a document??entitled??Public Education for the Public Good:?? A??National Vision for Canada’s Post-Secondary Education System. I found the document to be quite informative, filled with a lot of useful statistics.?? For example: -Enrolment is rising in colleges and universities across Canada. Since the late 1990s, full-time enrolment has […]
Posted by Nick Falvo under BC, democracy, education, employment, fiscal federalism, part time work, post-secondary education, public infrastructure, social policy, user fees, young workers.
November 6th, 2011
Comments: none
This is not the stuff of usual protests. Over the past month, a little idea from a Vancouver outfit has mushroomed into a cross-continent movement. Occupy Wall Street, kicked off by Adbusters in July and coming to Toronto this weekend, has already spread to 70 American cities and is going global as protestors challenge society […]
Posted by Armine Yalnizyan under capitalism, democracy, economic growth, financial transactions tax, fiscal policy, global crisis, inequality, Occupy Movement, Role of government, taxation.
October 13th, 2011
Comments: 1
In August, I blogged about controversy surrounding Concordia University’s Board of Governors. A report co-authored by Bernard J. Shapiro (Canada’s first Ethics Commissioner)??had concluded that an unofficial, inner circle of Board members had been??micromanaging some of the university’s day-to-day operations, and undermining the President.??This had apparently??prompted the resignation of??the??previous two??Presidents before the midway points of […]
Posted by Nick Falvo under democracy, education, post-secondary education, Quebec, student movement.
October 1st, 2011
Comments: 3
This essay was commissioned by the National Post.?? It was published in today’s edition under the headline “A Problem for Everyone“.?? In the print edition, the overline -?? a large font summary of what you are about to read?? written by the editors –?? reads:?? “Income inequality isn’t just unfair — it threatens the whole […]
Posted by Armine Yalnizyan under democracy, income distribution, inequality, super-rich, wages.
September 21st, 2011
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