Alberta gets it right on $15 minimum wage
This is the kind of bold leadership needed in the rest of Canada to make headway on combatting inequality, poverty and to create the conditions for a growing economy that benefits everyone.
Angella MacEwen is a Broadbent Institute Policy Fellow. She is also a Senior Economist with CUPE National, and co-author of Share the Wealth! How we can tax Canada’s super-rich and create a better country for everyone available now from Lorimer Books.
This is the kind of bold leadership needed in the rest of Canada to make headway on combatting inequality, poverty and to create the conditions for a growing economy that benefits everyone.
It could be national project, much like Medicare, that we can all be proud of contributing to and benefitting from. With the acknowledgement that building a program like that will take sustained dedication and time.
We’ve seen effective campaigns around minimum wages and precarious work in the United States, sponsored in part by various unions.
As to Coyne’s assertion that income splitting is as good a thing to spend the surplus on as anything else, I have a list of suggestions as long as the waitlist at my daughter’s child care provider.
Whenever we’re talking about labour market strategies and good jobs, it’s important to keep in mind that for some workers there are systemic barriers that need to be addressed.