The Wealth Gap: Perceptions and Misconceptions in Canada
A landmark survey commissioned by the Broadbent Institute finds that Canadians vastly underestimate the wealth gap in Canada and want a much more balanced distribution.
How the Conservatives have failed on child poverty
Twenty-five years ago, the House of Commons unanimously passed Ed Broadbent's resolution to abolish child poverty by the year 2000. We are far from that goal.
Child poverty as measured by the Statistics Canada Low Income Cut Off has fallen since 1989, meaning that the proportion of families forced to spend a well above average share of their budgets on food, clothing and shelter has diminished somewhat.
But it is a different story if we use the low income measure, which looks at the gap between poor children and the middle class, calculating the number of children who live in a family which has less than one half of the income of a comparable middle income family.
Read moreThe rise and fall of the Economic Council and a new way forward
Some 50 years ago, an Act of Parliament created a new permanent institution, the Economic Council of Canada. The general economic climate was considerably different back in 1963. Economics had become a high priority subject and economic policy seemed to work better if backed by economic research.
We then had the big econometric models and statistics that were providing reasonable forecasts, and economics per se was not regarded as particularly controversial.
Read moreCanada has failed to create equality of opportunity: Broadbent
Ed Broadbent / The Globe and Mail
Twenty-five years ago, on Nov. 24, 1989, I stood in the House of Commons and moved a motion to abolish the scourge of child poverty in Canada by the year 2000.
Read more