News

1,000 progressives descending on national capital this week for sold out #prgrs16

OTTAWA — The Broadbent Institute is hosting the country’s flagship conference for progressives. The mix of training and policy sessions from top international organizers and thought leaders at Progress Summit 2016 will showcase the pulse and strength of Canada’s progressive movement and offer solutions to shape the future.

OTTAWA—The 2016-17 federal budget is a missed opportunity to implement a fair tax agenda and build Canada’s shrunken fiscal capacity that is needed to fight inequality, the Broadbent Institute says.                                                                       

The new Canada Child Benefit is welcomed, as is a commitment to enhance the Canada Pension Plan and funding to consult Canadians on electoral reform. The new income tax cut, however, is ill-advised as it will deliver half of all the benefits to the top 10% of income earners, with two-thirds of Canadians not receiving any benefit at all because they don’t earn enough; the increase to the top income tax rate applicable to the top 1% earning more than $200,000 will not fully offset the tax cut.

OTTAWA — The Broadbent Institute is hosting the country’s flagship conference for progressives. The mix of training and policy sessions from top international organizers and thought leaders at Progress Summit 2016 will showcase the pulse and strength of Canada’s progressive movement and offer solutions to shape the future.

OTTAWA — Nine million votes were wasted in the 2015 election under Canada’s winner-take-all electoral system – that’s more than the populations of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Atlantic provinces combined, according to a new electoral reform primer outlining why the principle of proportionality must underpin the government’s promise to bring in voting reform by the next federal election.

An electoral system for all: Why Canada should adopt proportional representation, authored by University of British Columbia political scientist David Moscrop, was commissioned by the Broadbent Institute after the newly elected Liberal government promised that the 2015 federal election would be the last one using first-past-the-post.

OTTAWA — The Every Voter Counts Alliance launched Thursday -- showcasing wide, multi-partisan support for proportional representation as the only way to fix what’s wrong with Canada’s broken voting system.

The Alliance brings together organizations and individuals in support of a fair voting system in which every vote counts, independent of party interests. Supporting organizations include ACORN-Canada, Broadbent Institute, Canadian Federation of Students, Canadian Labour Congress, Council of Canadians, Democracy Watch, Équiterre, Fair Vote Canada, Groupe Femmes, Politique et Démocratie, Institut du Nouveau Monde, Leadnow, Mouvement démocratie nouvelle, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, Unlock Democracy, and YWCA Canada.

OTTAWA — The value of retirement assets of those aged 55 to 64 without an employer pension - representing about half in this age cohort in Canada - is wholly inadequate, with a median value of only $250 for those earning between $25,000 and $50,000 and $21,000 for those with incomes in the $50,000 and $100,000 range, a new study has found.

An Analysis of the Economic Circumstances of Canadian Seniors, authored by statistician Richard Shillington of Tristat Resources and released by the Broadbent Institute, also shows the Old Age Security (OAS) and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) guarantee levels are falling behind and trends in income sources for seniors suggest that high poverty rates among seniors will further increase. The poverty rates for single seniors are already high, especially for women with a rate of nearly 30 per cent.

OTTAWA — Most Canadians think the way members of Parliament are elected needs to change and a system of proportional representation is the most preferred alternative, a landmark Canadian survey has found.

The large national survey of 2,986 Canadians conducted November 3 to 6 by Abacus Data for the Broadbent Institute is the first study of its kind and size to measure Canadians’ attitudes about voting system design and preference for electoral reform. The large sample allowed for robust estimates across regional, demographic and political subgroups. The Abacus study also asked those who voted in the 2015 Canadian General Election to rank a ballot that included the main political parties and generated data for 11 regions to estimate, with increased precision, the outcome of the Canadian election had it been run under different electoral systems.

TORONTO—Alberta Premier Rachel Notley will deliver the keynote address at the Broadbent Institute’s annual Progress Gala on Thursday, November 12, 2015.

TORONTO — Canada must ensure there are broader changes to our economy beyond carbon pricing alone if the country is to move toward a low-carbon economy, says a new report released today by the Mowat Centre and the Broadbent Institute.

The two think tanks say that in the lead-up to next month’s UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris, Canada’s new federal government must articulate a broad and clear agenda that recognizes climate change is a fundamental global threat demanding Canadian leadership.

OTTAWA — The Broadbent Institute today launched a digital campaign with the release of a new video to seize on the momentum for change as advance polls open.

Can’t Wait, a one-minute video produced in English and French by Pollinator Films, captures the excitement and urgency people are feeling as voting day approaches. In five vignettes, the video uses humour to grab people’s attention.