November 2014

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...

The 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. 

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Youth unemployment and Canada's jobless non-recovery

When Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz commented recently that unemployed youth can advance their careers by volunteering their services instead of expecting to be paid, he inadvertently unleashed a firestorm of criticism.

At the same time, he was merely giving voice to a rather obvious fact confronting younger job-...