G20 leaders must solve the stagnation puzzle
When the leaders of the world’s most powerful economies meet at the Group of 20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Wednesday and Thursday, they face an economic puzzle only half-solved. Co-ordinated monetary and fiscal stimulus by the G20 in 2008 and 2009 narrowly prevented a repeat of the Great Depression. However, almost five years after the onset of the global financial crisis, the world economy remains mired in slow growth and high unemployment.
Read moreBroadbent Institute announces green economy initiative
Accompanying the launch of this new initiative is an expanded online home for the Institute's training and leadership program and a new brand identity that reflects the organization’s expanding role as a catalyst for progressive social change.
"Canadians are rightly concerned about the daunting challenges that threaten our long-term health and prosperity," said Broadbent Institute Executive Director Rick Smith. "Unfortunately, successive Canadian governments have spurned pressing ecological concerns and focused instead on narrow, short-term growth policies and the dismantling of the laws and regulations created to protect the environment."
Instead of making policies as though economic imperatives and environmental sustainability are at odds, the Broadbent Institute is calling for a better focus on the development of new green industries to create good jobs and globally competitive companies that can fuel Canada’s long-term economic growth.
"The creation of a sustainable, productive economy will necessitate investments in renewable energy and clean technologies and the regulation of harmful pollutants -- including and beyond carbon," said Smith. "We owe it to ourselves, and to future generations, to show sustainable economic leadership."
On income inequality, Andrew Coyne misses the mark
Andrew Coyne marshals an impressive range of statistics to make the case that rising income inequality is not a serious issue. A careful reading of his article shows that this is not the case.
As Coyne himself agrees, top incomes (incomes of the top 20%) rose much faster than those of middle and lower income groups for two of the last three decades. Things got worse over the 1980s and 1990s, and then there was a change, of sorts.
Read moreIndecent proposals: why the Fraser Institute is wrong on immigration
My best guess it that the Fraser Institute expects no one to read the report behind their newest sensationalist press release, in which they claim that the cost of immigrants to Canada is staggeringly high.
Anyone who looked at the report more closely would find false claims, deliberately misleading arguments, a naive understanding of global migration trends, and evident ignorance of what informs Canada’s immigration priorities. The report is so poor and illogical that it cannot be taken seriously as contributing to public debates about policy reform in the domain of immigration.
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