Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - research • analysis • solutions

Alternative Federal Budget Roundtable: Can Canada Escape a Lost Decade?

emily — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:42:38 +0000

As part of the consultations undertaken in preparation of our forthcoming Alternative Federal Budget, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives hosted an economic roundtable, The Global Economic Crisis: Can Canada Escape a Lost Decade? on January 26, 2012. The event brought together several leading Canadian economists to address the appropriate fiscal policy response to Canada’s anemic economic recovery, as well as three internationally recognized authorities who shared their perspectives on the nature of the global economic crisis, how it’s likely to unfold, and obstacles to reform.

Click on the keynote speeches below to watch online (via CPAC):

Keynote I: Perspectives on the global crisis and what to do

Speakers:

Yanis Varoufakis (PhD Essex) is the director of Political Economy division, department of Economic Sciences, University of Athens. He is the author of The Global Minotaur: America, the true origins of the financial crisis, and the future of the world economy (2011).
Stephany Griffith-Jones (PhD Cambridge) is Financial Markets Program Director at the Institute for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University; professorial fellow Institute of Development Studies University of Sussex. She is co-editor with José Antonio Ocampo and Joseph Stiglitz of Time for a Visible Hand: Lessons from the 2008 World Financial Crisis (2010).

Keynote II: Perspective on the U.S. and the global crisis, and the way forward

Speaker:

Thomas Palley (PhD Yale) is Schwartz Economic Growth Fellow at the New America Foundation, Washington DC. He is a frequent contributor to the Financial Times of London Economists’ Forum, and his most recent project is Economics for Democratic & Open Societies.

Old Age (In)Security

emily — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:54:07 +0000

Old Age Security (OAS) is the basic building block of Canada’s retirement income system. Canadians build on that foundation, saving for their retirement with benefits from the Canada or Quebec Pension Plan, a workplace pension if they’re lucky enough to have one, and private savings.

But now Prime Minster Harper says OAS is unsustainable and will not be able to accommodate the retirement of the baby boom generation over the next 20 years. Subsequently, the government is now considering controversial reforms to pension programs—including raising the age of eligibility for OAS from 65 to 67.

Pension experts don’t agree. Old Age Security: Can We Afford It?, a new CCPA technical paper by Monica Townson, sheds some light on the negative impact of cuts to Canada's pension programs and also addresses its sustainability, given government claims that OAS costs will be soon be “unaffordable.”

Click here to read the full report.

Saskatchewan Labour wins Essential Services Challenge: Court Rules Bill 5 "Unconstitutional."

Simon Enoch — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:50:11 +0000

Saskatchewan's labour movement won a significant victory yesterday as Justice Dennis Ball ruled that Bill 5, The Public Service Essential Services Act (PSES) violated the constitutional right to strike and bargain collectively as upheld in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In his decision, Justice Ball concluded: “No other essential services legislation in Canada comes close to prohibiting the right to strike as broadly, and as significantly, as the PSES Act. No other essential services legislation is as devoid of access to independent, effective dispute resolution processes … None have such significantly deleterious effects on protected rights.”

Justice Ball's decision corresponds to the arguments that the Saskatchewan Office has consistently made regarding the legitimacy of Bill 5.

For backgrounders from the Saskatchewan Office on Bill 5 and the Charter challenge, visit here and here.

Lessons from London, Ontario: The crackdown on middle class jobs

emily — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:48:52 +0000

Electro-Motive/Caterpillar's decision to lock out its London, Ontario workers on January 1st, demanding workers accept a 50% pay cut or lose the plant altogether, brings into focus a theme that is unfolding in 2012: The crackdown on middle class work in Canada.

The CCPA's Trish Hennessy has written two blog posts about the developments in London and what it means for Canada's labour movement:

Caterpillar: The moth flying too close to the flame shows the futility of Canada's tax cut agenda and the failure of senior governments to act to save jobs.

Attack of the killer unionbot deconstructs the dehumanizing narrative that is pitting Canadians against unions.

Resources on pension reform and Old Age Security

emily — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:43:58 +0000

Last week Prime Minister Harper signaled possible cuts to Canada's pension programs, namely Old Age Security benefits for middle- and lower-income seniors. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has produced several resources on pension reform, including analysis of the possible plan to raise the age for OAS eligibility:

Canada’s Incredible Shrinking Population, by Erin Weir
CCPA research associate Erin Weir brings some clarity to claims that the cost of Old Age Security is unsustainable.
The OAS Eligibility Age and Employment, by Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson suggests that an increase in the eligibility age for OAS/GIS will negatively impact an increasing proportion of older Canadians who are staying in the workforce well past 65.
Is The OAS/GIS Program Unaffordable?, by Andrew Jackson
On CCPA’s blog, Andrew Jackson writes that despite the government's claims to the contrary, OAS costs are indeed sustainable in the context of an ageing society.
Hennessy's Index: Grey Power, by Trish Hennessy
Hennessy's Index is a monthly listing of numbers about Canada and its place in the world. February's edition introduces us to some distressing numbers and facts on pensions and Old Age Security.
Low Income and the Age of Eligibility for OAS, by Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson suggests that raising the age of eligibility for Old Age Security/Guaranteed Income Supplement (OAS/GIS) will have the biggest impact on future seniors who are in lower income brackets.

Raising The Retirement Age Is The Wrong Way To Deal With The Retirement Crisis, by Andrew Jackson
In this blog post, Andrew Jackson writes that raising the age of eligibility for OAS/GIS will cut a basic building block of retirement security, and instead we should be expanding the Canada Pension Plan now to raise incomes for seniors in the future.

Delaying Retirement: What does it mean for younger workers?, by Karen Foster
Karen Foster examines the impact of pension reforms on the job prospects and economic well-being of younger workers.

A Stronger Foundation: Pension Reform and Old Age Security, by Monica Townson
This report reviews OAS and its associated programs of the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and the Allowance and discusses measures that could be taken to strengthen this part of Canada’s pension system.

Pension Breakdown: How the Finance Ministers Bungled Pension Reform, by Monica Townson
This study provides an analysis of the government's proposed Pooled Registered Pension Plan (PRPP) program, and asserts that it will do nothing to solve Canada’s pension crisis.

Every Tool Shapes the Task

emily — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:59:11 +0000

The speed and breadth of technological change and how it plays out in education is creating many battles. The Winter 2012 issue of Our Schools/Our Selves -- Every Tool Shapes the Task identifies some of these areas of conflict and how they play out in schools and for students and teachers. The articles in this issue frame some of the many areas of conflict over education — conflicts that grow out of social, cultural, political and technological changes and differences. Conflict and controversy are sometimes carried out as a dialogue, and can lead to understanding and consensus. They sometimes also reflect differences that cannot be reconciled. Both are true of issues dealt with in this edition.

Click here for a preview of the book, or to order.

CAW/CEP Merger Discussions

chris — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:51:24 +0000

The CAW and CEP, two organizations with extensive experience with union mergers, have embarked on a joint exploration of whether to form a new alliance founded on "a genuinely new form of trade unionism: a unionism that is equated with the broader fight of all workers for justice and security." In his 1995 history of the autoworkers, Sam Gindin reflected on the CAW's own experience with union mergers and their potential to foster greater understanding and solidarity among members:

"Although the mergers certainly added new and difficult challenges, they were also a source of strength and vitality. The mergers brought unions with their own rich histories, activists with talent and experience, and the energy of new members. In addition, they encouraged the development of a broader working class consciousness on the part of the past and future CAW members. CAW activists, having heard a report on the fisheries at the council, read the newspaper differently and paid more attention to what was happening to working people in Newfoundland. Students in the PEL program, listening to a passenger agent explain the impact of lean production on her work, realized that work reorganization was in fact part of something bigger and that service workers were really workers."

Academics such as Gary Chaison have emphasized that when it comes to union renewal, mergers are a poor substitute for re-evaluating existing approaches to organizing, educating, mobilizing, and bargaining. The CAW/CEP discussion paper agrees, viewing merger as an opportunity to revitalize current practices and shake up the Canadian labour movement more broadly, rather than being an end in itself.

Caterpillar and the Investment Canada Act

chris — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 02:41:57 +0000

Caterpillar's February 3rd announcement that it will close the Electro-Motive Diesel facility in London has renewed calls to overhaul the Investment Canada Act. The CAW, CEP, USW and CLC among others have pressed for expanding the criteria for approving foreign takeovers to include the impact of the investment on employment, wages and conditions, and the livelihood of workers, retirees and communities affected. Unions have also pointed to the lack of transparency and public participation in the review process, calling on the government to make public all commitments made by companies under the Act.

Some in the media have also questioned why companies like Electro-Motive (Caterpillar), which benefited from tax breaks and incentives announced in 2008, are not required to return the money if they close plants and lay off workers. In a similar vein, the CLC recently urged the federal government to require companies benefitting from corporate income tax cuts, but stockpiling cash, raising executive compensation, and boosting shareholder dividends instead of increasing real investment and employment, to pay back the money to taxpayers.

Education is a public good

Christine Saulnier — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:45:29 +0000

Hundreds of students across the province came together on February 1^st for the Canadian Federation of Students' Day of Action to protest Nova Scotia’s continuing erosion of funding for higher education. The average Nova Scotian graduate leaves university with $30,000 in accumulated debt, a number that will continue to rise with recently-announced cuts. Tuition for some programs in the province will go up by as much as 3% next year.

Laura Penny, professor and author of multiple books, including “More Money Than Brains: Why School Sucks, College is Crap, and Idiots Think They're Right,” spoke to the crowd of hundreds. See Penny speak at the 4^th Annual CCPA-NS Fundraiser in October 2011, here.

In April 2011, CCPA-NS released a study entitled, “Fairness, Funding and our Collective Future: A Way Forward for Post-secondary Education in Nova Scotia.” The authors call on the government to stop underestimating both the individual cost of pursuing a post-secondary education as well as the benefits to society as a whole. Read their recommendations, here.

Did you know poverty costs PEI $315 million per year?

Christine Saulnier — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:08:13 +0000

The direct cost of poverty for the PEI government is an estimated 100 million dollars per year — 7.6% of the 2009/10 PEI government budget. When the costs to government are added to the broader costs to the economy, the total cost of poverty for the province is $315 million dollars, which is equivalent to 7.6% of Prince Edward Island’s GDP. This corresponds to $2,700 per person, per year.

Researchers Christine Saulnier and Angella MacEwan explain these numbers in a new CCPA-NS report, Cost of Poverty in Prince Edward Island (2011).

The report was presented in PEI late last year, covered by The Guardian on December 11th, here.

The authors' most recent visit to PEI was covered by The Gaurdian on January 29th, here.

What economic recovery?

kerri — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

We've all heard political leaders boast that the Canadian economy has fully recovered from the recession and that the recession was not as severe in Canada as in other countries. It turns out that both of those claims are false because they don't take population growth into consideration.

Canada's Incomplete, Mediocre Recovery, a new CCPA study by Jim Stanford finds that, after adjusting for population growth, neither GDP nor employment growth have yet to recoup the ground lost during the 2008-09 downturn. Real per capita GDP remains 1.4% lower as of the third quarter of 2011 than it was at the beginning of 2008. And the labour market is still much weaker than it was before the recession—measured by the employment rate, less than one-fifth of the damage has been repaired.

As for international comparisons, once population growth is factored in, Canada's GDP performance ranks 17th out of 34 OECD countries. Canada also ranks 17th (out of 33 reporting countries) in terms of employment growth.

Click here to read the full report.

Infographic visualizes rising income inequality in Canada

emily — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:23:09 +0000

Income inequality has been getting worse in Canada, rising at a faster pace than it has been in the U.S. The inequality is being driven by what’s happening at the very top of the income spectrum: the richest of the rich are breaking away from the rest of us.

CCPA's latest infographic illustrates some of these stark disparities. Click the image below to view the full infographic:

University students more than repay tuition costs through taxes after graduation

Sarah Leavitt — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:17:48 +0000

Our new study released today shows that BC university graduates fully repay the cost of their tuition through taxes after graduation. University graduates in most cases earn more than those without degrees, and therefore pay more taxes. If post-graduation taxes were considered as tuition payment, upfront tuition fees could be reduced in order to remove barriers to post-secondary education — particularly since more and more jobs require university degrees.

Read Paid in Full: Who Pays for University Education in BC? and listen for interviews with author Iglika Ivanova today on CFAX at 12:30 PM and CKNW at 1:45 PM (Pacific Time).

Infographic: Canada's CEO Elite 100

emily — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:51:48 +0000

CBC Radio’s weekly series, Type A released a comprehensive infographic based on the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives' recent report, Canada’s CEO Elite 100: The 0.01%.

Click the image on the right to view infographic in full.

For more information, read the original report here and be sure to visit The Clash for the Cash: CEO vs. Average Joe to find out how much the CEOs have earned so far.

Hard at work on our 2012 Alternative Provincial Budget

Christine Saulnier — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:55:48 +0000

CCPA-NS, along with our partners, is currently working on the 11^th annual Alternative Provincial Budget. This flagship document demystifies the budgeting process, making provincial finances accessible to all Nova Scotians. Look for its launch in March.

Nova Scotia Alternative Provincial Budget 2011 can be seen here.

Finance Minister Graham Steele recently mentioned some proposals offered by CCPA-NS members on CBC Radio One’s Information Morning, here.

Mike Bradfield, economist working on the Alternative Provincial Budget, elaborated on Minister Steele’s comments, here.

Federal cutbacks will cost more than 60,000 jobs and slash services

kerri — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:13:01 +0000

In its 2010 and 2011 budgets, the federal government announced cuts totalling $7.82 billion. A new CCPA study explores the impact of these cutbacks and finds between 60,100 and 68,300 jobs will be lost as a result.

The study, The Cuts Behind the Curtain: How federal cutbacks will slash services and increase unemployment, identifies areas that are already seeing cuts and may see more of the same, including: programs for Aboriginal on-reserve housing, training and primary health care; support for low-income families, seniors, and the unemployed; environmental programs; workplace and food safety inspectors; and Canada's international profile.

The study also raises serious concerns about the government's lack of transparency about what will be axed, and why.

Click here to to download the study in English. Click here to download the study in French.

Canada's Wealthy: They're richer than you think!

Simon Enoch — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:54:01 +0000

Director of the Saskatchewan Office, Simon Enoch, discusses the causes and consequences of income inequality with Planet S Magazine's Stephen LaRose.

View the article here.

Tickets on sale for CCPA-BC 15th Anniversary Gala with Bill McKibben, March 26

Sarah Leavitt — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:55:10 +0000

We're thrilled to announce that this year's BC fundraiser gala will feature Bill McKibben, author and climate justice activist extraordinaire, most recently in the news for his part in opposing the Keystone XL pipeline.

What better way to celebrate the 15th anniversary of our BC office? As you know, tickets to our gala often sell out, so get yours now and make sure you don't miss out on this excellent event.

Monday, March 26 at 5:30 PM
Fraserview Hall, Vancouver

Details and online ticket sales

Premiers meet to talk health care: it's time for leadership and vision

Sarah Leavitt — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:19:04 +0000

As Canada's premiers gather in Victoria today and tomorrow to discuss the future of health care, a new study from the CCPA-BC calls for a system-wide, integrated approach to health care reform. The study assesses BC's recent efforts at health care reform, including the introduction of "activity based funding" in an effort to fix long wait times and overcrowded hospitals. The study finds that ABF’s narrow focus on increasing “activity” in one part of the health care system does not address the system-level changes needed to control health care costs and improve patient care.

Read the full study or a short summary: Beyond the Hospital Walls: Activity Based Funding Versus Integrated Health Care Reform

Listen to lead author Marcy Cohen today at 12:30 PM on CFAX or 1:00 PM on CKNW, and follow us on Twitter for more media news.

4th Annual CCPA-NS Fundraiser with Laura Penny is a success

emily — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:14:03 +0000

Our 4th Annual Fundraiser was held on October 6th, 2011 at the Italian Cultural Centre in Halifax. We want to thank everyone who bought tickets and our table sponsors for their generous contributions. We had a terrific night!

Our guest speaker, Laura Penny, gave an entertaining and thought-provoking talk to guests, entitled Sorry, kids, your future is cancelled! and shared her thoughts on how expensive all this "austerity" is going to be. Her talk focused specifically on the implications of the austerity agenda and on problems with education funding, the environment, and the effects of social disinvestment on kids.

Laura Penny is the best-selling author of Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit and More Money Than Brains: Why School Sucks, College is Crap and Idiots Think They're Right (both Globe and Mail "Best Books of the Year").

If you weren't able to join us, you can watch a video of Laura's talk here.

Special thanks to Sobaz Benjamin for donating his time to film the event for us.

There’s no contest when it comes to CEO compensation

emily — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 02:32:48 +0000

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ annual look at CEO compensation looks at 2010 compensation levels for Canada’s highest paid 100 CEOs and finds they pocketed an average of an average $8.38 million in 2010 – a 27% increase over the average $6.6 million they took in 2009.

Even in these turbulent economic times, the average of Canada’s CEO Elite 100 make 189 times more than Canadians earning the average wage.

The full report, Canada's CEO Elite 100: The 0.01% is available here.

You can also visit our interactive counter, The Clash for the Cash: CEO vs. Average Joe, to find out how much these contenders have earned so far.

Payroll taxes in Canada

chris — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:18:18 +0000

The Caledon Institute of Social Policy has a brief research note showing that taken together, Employment Insurance premiums and Canada Pension Plan contributions net of federal non-refundable tax credits have increased only modestly in real terms since 1995, and have been essentially flat since 2002.

The research note also points out that Canada's social security contributions (so-called 'payroll taxes') are quite modest when stacked up against other OECD countries. For a single worker earning an average income, Canada's social security contributions as a share of average gross earnings placed it 24th out of 32 countries, below the US and well under the OECD average.

Public and Private Sector Pay Differences

chris — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 03:26:32 +0000

The Canadian Union of Public Employees has released an extensive analysis of public-sector and private-sector wages entitled, Battle of the Wages: Who gets paid more, public or private sector workers? The report joins several other recent studies critical of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ own analysis of census data purporting to show large positive pay differentials in the public sector.

Using detailed occupational data compiled from Statistics Canada’s 2006 census, CUPE's study finds that average salaries for comparable occupations in the private and public sector are similar on the whole, with a small overall public-sector pay premium of 0.5% entirely due to a smaller pay gap for women in the public sector. Women working public-sector jobs on average earn 4.5% more than their private-sector equivalents, while men are paid on average 5.3% less in the public-sector than in similar occupations in the private sector.

Women belonging to similar age groups and working identical jobs as men tend to be paid less, but the pay gap with men is significantly smaller in the public sector than in the private sector.

On the whole, lower-paid occupations, many of which are female-dominated, tend to be better paid in the public sector than the private; for higher-paid occupations, in which men are over-represented, pay tends to be higher in the private sector. The study notes that forcing public sector wages to follow private-sector norms would increase inequality between men and women, and between high and low-income earners, with very little overall savings for government.

CUPE's report also touches on pension and benefit cost differentials, and contains an annotated bibliography of studies of public and private-sector pay differences in Canada, the United States and western European countries.

Pooled plans won’t solve pension crisis

emily — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:15:40 +0000

A new CCPA report finds that the government's proposed Pooled Registered Pension Plan (PRPP) program will do nothing to solve Canada’s pension crisis. The report, by Monica Towson, concludes that rather than proposing yet another voluntary savings scheme, the government should instead focus on expanding the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). Improving CPP benefits would address the two key issues in the pension system causing concern: the lack of coverage in workplace pension plans; and the fact that individuals are not saving for retirement on their own. An expanded CPP would provide better retirement pensions to virtually all Canadians.

The full report, Pension Breakdown: How the finance ministers bungled pension reform, is available by clicking here.

OECD: Canada's income gap is at a record high

emily — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:29:03 +0000

A new OECD report on income inequality among 34 industrialized nations asserts what CCPA research has long revealed: Canada's income gap is at a record high. As the Globe and Mail reports in this story , "Two factors explain Canada’s growing gap: a widening disparity in labour earnings between high- and low-paid workers, and less redistribution. 'Taxes and benefits reduce inequality less in Canada than in most OECD countries,' the study said."

The full report is available for download from the OECD website here.

Meanwhile, Huffington Post Canada has unveiled a series on income inequality in Canada, including: