A well-designed system of income tested benefits for low income workers, including disability benefits, is needed to set a basic income floor for all Canadians and to replace our inadequate and punitive social assistance system.
In the current rush to experiment with guaranteed livable incomes, let’s not forget the hard won battles to decommodify certain things we value like health care.
Will the Trudeau Government have the courage to listen to concerned Canadians and acknowledge that “free” trade and investment deals have run their course?
What countries that have got their emissions under control have is a well-institutionalized process for integrating the monitoring of emissions trends and the policy making process, and to develop real-time policy adjustment in the face of evolving emissions trends.
It is crucial that Canada’s INDC provides a serious, quantifiable strategy for reducing oil sands emissions — either by curtailment of future expansion, or through improved extractive and refining efficiencies.
In 2015, it’s dreadfully evident that our patchwork, marketized child care situation fails just about everyone and that young Canadian families live in one of the few wealthy countries that fails to support them well.
Viewing the TPP as a trade agreement masks its significance as a tool that will, like NAFTA, be used to challenge government regulation in the public interest. Investors from across the TPP will be able to appeal regulatory decisions before secret tribunals, giving them rights that do not exist for domestic companies under Canadian law.
The growing call for universal drug coverage stems from the realization that Canadians should be able to take medications as prescribed, regardless of their financial situation.
Supply management allows Canadian farmers to plan for the future and to stay the course. This, in turn, allows Canada a degree of food security and food sovereignty that is remarkable.
