Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Noah Smith writes that for all the recognition of poverty and precarity in the U.S., it may be home to even more material insecurity than normally presumed:

Imagine a 55-year-old single woman with diabetes working a part-time job making close to minimum wage. Thanks to government assistance, her total income is $15,000 a year. But if she loses her job or has a medical emergency — both of which, as Matthew Desmond’s book “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” illustrates, are sadly common — she will probably become homeless. That in turn will make it very hard to get a new job, or to pay for her future health-care needs. In short, her situation is very precarious.

As Maslow would predict, this kind of insecurity causes extreme stress. And this precariousness exists along several dimensions — housing, health care, income, the risk of violence — which makes it hard to capture in a single measure. Still, there are some existing measures that could be used to help create a composite picture of security-based poverty.

For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture tracks food insecurity, a survey-based measure of how worried people are that their food will run out. Economists track income volatility, which measures swings in earnings from year to year. This kind of risk has been on the rise in the U.S...

A reasonable, common-sense definition of poverty should include not just an absolute measure of material deprivation and a relative gauge of a person’s situation compared to the rest of society. It should also strive to measure how secure people feel — in their homes, their health, and their jobs.

This new measure might well show that poverty in the U.S. is worse than the current statistics say. But an accurate view of a problem is the first step toward addressing it. And eliminating poverty should be a priority of any wealthy society.

- Meanwhile, Molly Moss notes that austerity in the UK has disproportionately withdrawn public funding from the struggling northern region.

- In the wake of failed charges in British Columbia, Barrie McKenna points out how Canada continues to be used as a money-laundering haven.

- Bronwen Tucker makes the case for Alberta's oil production cuts to serve as a first step toward our needed transition to clean energy. And Dennis Gruending reviews Tony Clarke's new book offering a road map to get there.

- Finally, Matthew D'Ancona discusses how the UK's Brexit fiasco is the result of bigotry. And Keith Kahn-Harris writes that the essence of white supremacy is a belief in an entitlement to treat others without respect or moral constraints.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Indoor cats.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Dean Baker responds to attempts to paint inequality as an inevitable result of market forces by pointing out the choices being how our markets are structured. And Jonathan Tepper discusses how the concentration of wealth and power has created giant corporate monopolies which are antithetical to market competition and innovation.

- Richard Reeves points out the need for growing inequality to be addressed by sufficient worker bargaining power to boost wages. Julia Wong and Kaylen Small report on the acts of solidarity by workers across Canada in response to the Trudeau government's choice to force CUPW to give up an effective and effectively-managed strike. The Canadian Press reports on the similarities between the effort to respond to GM's abandonment of Oshawa and the wider issues facing Canada's labour movement. And L. Ian MacDonald points out that our reaction to the Oshawa closure speaks volumes about our view of the significance and meaning of the national interest in managing economic development.

- Robin McKie writes about another global climate summit being held in the face of warnings that we may have already reached a point of no return as we try to avoid outright climate breakdown. Bob Weber reports on new research showing that Canada's cities are woefully unprepared for the future projected to result from climate change. And Amy Harder comments on the wilful ignorance and disinformation at the core of the only position opposed to a massive effort to change course.

- Simon Little reports on the apparent connection between fracking and earthquake activity in Fort St. John, B.C.

- Finally, James Wilt analyzes how far too much of Canada's media is dedicated to serving the ruling class rather than the public interest.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Nick Saul calls out Doug Ford for undermining the dignity of lower-income Ontarians through barriers and cuts to needed benefits. And the Star's editorial board notes that both labour policy and social programs need to account for the needs of a workforce facing precarity as the norm, rather than being based on the expectation that any worker can find high-paying, long-term employment just by showing up.

- Martin Regg Cohn, Steven Zhou and the Globe and Mail's editorial board each discuss Ford's sad excuse for a climate change plan whose primary effect is to have the public fund polluters. Mike Moffatt focuses on its counterproductivity in achieving its stated purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And the Economist highlights how a combination of a wide-ranging problem, a lack of institutional capacity and the presence of firmly entrenched interests makes climate change a particularly intractable problem to address.

- Meanwhile, Common Dreams takes note of the newly-launched Progressive International as a forum for organizing for democracy, prosperity, sustainability and solidarity - and perhaps with time and effort, exactly the type of forum capable of bringing about global-scale change. And Chris Hatch reports on the Canadian youth occupying MPs' offices demanding that their federal government start taking some steps commensurate with the reality of a climate breakdown.

- Douglas Todd comments on the goodie-laden immigration system which applies to the ultra-rich as opposed to the rest of us.

- Finally, Doug Cowan examines how several countries shifted away from first-past-the-post electoral systems - and why they've been far better off since switching to more proportional systems.

Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Stephanie Kelton, Andres Bernal and Greg Carlock highlight how a Green New Deal is entirely affordable south of the border. And Clayton Thomas-Muller examines what we could demand in a Canadian equivalent:

(I)f we’re going to do what the science says we need to do and stop expanding fossil fuels, we need a plan to transition to 100 per cent renewables within the two decades. For that, we need the federal government to step up and guarantee that every single worker, family and community impacted by this transition will be supported. The best way to do that is to borrow from the Green New Deal and implement a federal job guarantee that tells every single person in Canada that they don’t have to choose between putting food on the table and ensuring our children inherit a liveable planet. 
 
This kind of climate plan would ensure that Indigenous peoples have the ability to continue to hunt, fish, gather, practice ceremony and build sustainable economies on an adequate land base and it would support the restoration of lands despoiled by the fossil fuel economy. Put another way, a climate plan built on this basis could make good on so many politicians’ hollow promises around the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the ninety-four calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report. 

This doesn’t have to be a pipe dream. In the United States, they’re calling it a Green New Deal, but I have a simpler name for it here in Canada – The Good Work Guarantee. 

It’s called the Good Work Guarantee because that’s exactly what it is, a guaranteed good job for workers connected at the hip to a climate policy that moves Canada off of fossil fuels and respects Indigenous rights. And, despite what our political leaders tell us, we have every reason to believe that this kind of bold policy is possible here in Canada.

- Meanwhile, Christo Aivalis points out the important lessons from GM's abandonment of Oshawa - including the pitfalls of depending on the corporate sector alone for economic development.

- Ricardo Tranjan examines Doug Ford's plan to undermine Ontario's welfare system by stealth through higher entry barriers and more haste in withdrawing supports.

- Abdi Latif Dahir discusses new research into the effect of cash transfers in alleviating poverty with substantially no side effects. And Matt Bruenig points out how a child allowance would reduce both the breadth and depth of poverty in the U.S.

- Finally, Karin Larsen reports on the effect of Vancouver's empty homes tax, which has raised tens of millions of dollars with little impact on housing availability.

Musical interlude

Zero 7 - Destiny

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Larry Elliott reports on another of UK Labour's proposals to democratize the economy, this time by giving consumers some say in executive pay.

- Alex Paterson comments on the relationship between the housing market and the investments of many pension plans - though it's worth noting that pensions would seem to be exactly the type of investors with a strong interest in achieving steady long-term returns from rental housing.

- The CP reports on the Lancet's latest study of the health costs of climate breakdown - including the response from Canadian health providers.

- Meanwhile, Andrew Nikiforuk points out that the manipulation of pipeline availability through the booking of "air barrels" both serves to favour some oil producers over others, and results in a misleading picture of the amount of pipeline capacity available. Robyn Allan highlights how the oft-repeated rhetoric about oil price differentials fails to acknowledge that the difference only applies to a small quantity of oil. And Gary Mason writes about the oil industry's plan to stick the Canadian public with massive cleanup costs.

- Finally, Martin Lukacs investigates how Canada's arms industry has contributed to the devastation in Yemen. And Sam Cooper, Stewart Bell and Andrew Russell report on the laundering of the proceeds of crime through B.C. casinos.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Trish Hennessy discusses the connection between child care deserts and child poverty, while pointing out the importance of eradicating both:

While the evidence shows the importance of greater learning and socialization opportunities in the early years, it also shows that Canada is home to extremely high child care fees—which is a barrier to low- and middle-income families. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) documents how some families pay child care fees the size of a monthly mortgage payment.

Some families simply don’t have child care options: the CCPA estimates 776,000 children (44 per cent of all non-school-aged children) live in what it calls child care deserts—a notion similar to food deserts, where some communities lack access to licensed child care spaces.
...
Back in 1999, the now-defunct National Council of Welfare put the importance of child care this way in its Preschool Children: Promises to Keep report: “Many social programs support families, but child care is the backbone of them all.”

What if Canada replaced its child care desert with an adequately funded national, universal, public child care program that is both high quality and affordable?

Mothers of young children would take up paying work, contributing to the family’s economic bottom line while ensuring their children have access to great socialization opportunities.

- Meanwhile, Jeffrey Sachs points out the numerous revenue tools available to ensure that funding is available to meet social needs. Melanie McFarland notes that the tax evasion and avoidance documented in the Panama Papers has direct consequences for everybody. And PressProgress exposes the offshoring connections of some of the big-money funders of British Columbia's anti-electoral reform campaign.

- Ken Kimmell and Brenda Ekwurzel write that Donald Trump's attempt to suppress and deny facts about our climate breakdown can't change the reality of a planet on the brink. And Fiona Harvey reports on a new UN report showing a need to triple even what's been promised to rein in greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid a catastrophic outcome.

- Meanwhile, Climate Justice Saskatoon studies the concerns of communities who currently rely on coal as a major economic driver, and notes how it's possible to achieve a just transition by taking into account the people affected by changes in energy sources.

- Finally, Christo Aivalis discusses how the Trudeau Libs have chosen to trample on labour rights in their pursuit of corporate convenience.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- In the wake of GM's abandonment of Oshawa, David Olive suggests that it's time for Canada to work on developing its own signature automaker. Sara Mohtehedzadeh writes that the Oshawa closure should serve as a warning for anybody who believes that big business will provide secure employment, while John Michael McGrath highlights the closure following massive public bailouts as a prime example of the futility of corporate welfare. Julia Conley examines the broader impact of GM's multiple plant shutdowns even in the face of multiple government concessions and giveaways. And Gerard Di Trolio, David Bush and Doug Nesbitt write that the labour movement needs to ensure that it's fighting for sustainable jobs and a just transition to clean energy, rather than hoping to preserve operations which have a limited shelf life. 

- Meanwhile, PressProgress points out why we shouldn't take the Libs' word for it that everything is hunky-dory for Canadian workers.

- Marco Chown Oved reports that Toronto's real estate market is vulnerable to the same type of money laundering that looks to have run rampant in Vancouver. And Abby Young-Powell offers a reminder of what we should want from our housing system - including building affordable communities and lives, not only bare accommodations.

- Finally, Ingrid Peretz reports on the first major Canadian climate change lawsuit challenging an avoidable climate breakdown as a violation of rights.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Cats at home.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Robinson Meyer rightly criticizes the Trump administration for trying to bury a devastating national climate assessment on Black Friday.

- David Leonhardt discusses the U.S.' increasing corporate concentration and monopolization of nearly every major industry - and the resulting pressures on communities and workers in the face of shrinking choices.

- Meanwhile, Melanie McFarland writes that the tax evasion and offshoring reflected in the Panama Papers is far from a victimless crime, as everybody else ends up paying more for weaker public services as the wealthy stash their loot overseas. And Polly Toynbee points out that Britons have every reason to be unhappy with wealth inequality, but notes that the solution should be to seek economic justice rather than to withdraw from the world.

- The Economist makes the case for harm reduction rather than blanket prohibition as the best means of addressing the dangers of drug abuse.

- Finally, Christo Aivalis traces the Libs' history of trampling on collective bargaining rights from one Trudeau to another.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Crawford Kilian reviews Christo Aivalis' The Constant Liberal, and discusses how Justin Trudeau is continuing a family tradition of betraying progressive voters:

[Pierre Trudeau] wanted to strengthen unions and workers in general — up to a point. It wasn’t to help the workers; it was to use them “instrumentally,” to rescue liberalism from the dead end of the Duplessistes and right-wing Liberals and Progressive Conservatives in the rest of Canada. Otherwise, labour would move left again, back to its 1930s socialism.
...
Trudeau mocked Tory leader Robert Stanfield’s promise of wage and price controls in a time of soaring inflation, won the election with working-class votes, and promptly brought in wage and price controls. Labour and the NDP were furious because they’d been led to hope for “tripartism,” whereby workers, corporations, and the government would be equal partners. Instead, Trudeau cast unions as the greedy drivers of inflation and locked down their wages while the corporations found loopholes. Worse yet, the Charter was adopted without any guarantees of social or labour rights. 
...
Aivalis finds Justin Trudeau very much like his father: politically able to “hamstring” the NDP by attracting left-wing voters and then disappointing them by reneging on his promises (proportional voting) and taking labour-hostile measures (legislating an end to the postal workers’ strike).

“Ultimately,” he concludes, if it truly is ‘like father, like son,’ Canadians on the left might be wise to prepare for years, if not a generation, of deep disappointment.”

- Kerensa Cadenas points out how the U.S.' National Climate Assessment confirms that climate denialism only stands to be a drag on economic development in the long run. Jeff Lewis, Jeffrey Jones, Chen Wang and Renata D'Alesio report on the financial and environmental mess being made of Alberta's oil patch as the oil industry tries to simultaneously extract short-term profits and offload long-term responsibility. And Regan Boychuk comments on the massive cleanup costs likely to be left for the province after the oil barons have cleared any liabilities off their books.

- Meanwhile, Martin Regg Cohn discusses how Ontario's environment stands to suffer from the Ford Cons' plans to place any watchdog function in the hands of an auditor general's office which both isn't equipped for the job, and has been inexplicably cavalier toward environmental actions in the past. And Christen Shepherd comments on the elimination of Ontario's child advocate who served as a desperately-needed source of hope for vulnerable children.

- And in case there was any doubt how little interest Ford's government has in ensuring that any oversight is effective or unbiased, Rob Ferguson reports on directions from Ford's chief of staff to use law enforcement to raid cannabis stores in order to generate photo ops.

- Finally, Lori Culbert and Dan Fumano report on the failure of one of the B.C. Libs' private housing projects. And the Canadian Press reports that rather than following the same model, the Horgan government is providing direct funding for 1,100 homes for Indigenous residents.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Andrea Germanos discusses the problems with relying on the charity of the uber-wealthy rather than stable and sustainable public revenues to meet the needs of the people with the least. 

- Dan Fumano reports on the City of Vancouver's call for a shift toward tenant protections and non-profit housing, while Seila Rizvic offers some ideas to alleviate housing crises by focusing on residents rather than developers. And Steve Meaghar notes that Toronto's emergency shelters are already over capacity long before the worst of winter hits, while Elizabeth Fraser reports on the realities of homelessness among university students.

- PressProgress exposes the big-money, anti-worker actors trying to buy Jason Kenney's way into office in Alberta. And Stuart Trew points out how the federal Libs are catering to big business through dangerous deregulation.

- Andrew Nikiforuk notes that Alberta's revenue problems trace back through decades of PC mismanagement of resources. And Robyn Allan discusses yet another concession the Libs appear to have made to Kinder Morgan, as their public bailout of the TransMountain pipeline appears to include taking on what were supposed to be corporate promises to pay for ocean protection measures.

- Finally, Owen Jones points out that the rise of violent racism can be traced in large part to the refusal of right-wing parties to call out fascist tendencies as they've developed.

Musical interlude

Phantogram - Futuristic Casket

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- May Bulman reports on the growing gap in life expectancy between the rich and the poor in the UK. And Owen Jones offers a reminder that it was the political choices of the UK Cons - regardless of their position on Brexit - that have led to austerity and misery.

- David Moscrop discusses how Doug Ford's plans for Ontario are aimed at making life worse for the people who already have the least. And the Star's editorial board comments on his choice to single out people living with disabilities for scrutiny and benefit restrictions.

- John Michael McGrath highlights the importance of Ontario's environmental commissioner just as her role is about to be eliminated.

- Oliver Milman reports on the U.S.' National Climate Assessment, which confirms the devastating impacts of climate breakdown even in a country going out of its way to block international action. And Alex Ballingall points out the latest study from Oil Change International on the massive amounts of public money still being gifted to the fossil fuel sector, rather than being used to fund clean energy alternatives.

- Finally, Emma McIntosh and David Bruser report on Alberta's dubious approval of remediation plans which amount to little more than gambling that fresh water will eventually overcome the presence of toxic waste.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Kathleen Harris reports on a federal budget update designed to have Canada borrow to shovel money into the pockets of big business. And PressProgress points out the absurdity of that plan when the corporate sector already has far too many loopholes and freebies at its disposal:

Corporate Canada will receive $14 billion in new tax giveaways over the next five years even though they are already receiving tens of billions of dollars every year through special tax loopholes.
...
Although Morneau opted against Trump’s no strings attached approach in favour of targeted tax incentives that allow companies to write-off the costs of investing in new machinery, clean energy equipment and newly acquired assets, the new measures are not offset by closing any of the ineffective and unfair tax loopholes that cost Canada tens of billions of dollars each year.

According to one estimate by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Canada is already losing $18 billion per year through special loopholes that primarily benefit Corporate Canada.

Various loopholes benefiting corporations and corporate executives relating to the taxation of capital gains, stock options, dividends as well as entertainment expenses for businesses have been widely criticized and identified as an easy way to restore billions in revenue.

Meanwhile, Canadian corporations already route billions of dollars through offshore tax havens, contributing to an estimated $10-15 billion in lost revenue each year.

Likewise, Morneau’s tax incentives to encourage clean energy investments are not offset by a move to “phase out subsidies for the fossil fuel industry,” something the Liberals promised in their 2015 election platform — in fact, Morneau actually introduced new subsidies in his 2017 budget.

- Meanwhile, Kevin Milligan offers his take as to what a progressive approach to revenue could include - with a focus on increasing personal income tax rates and ramping up enforcement to ensure everybody pays what they owe.

- Zi-Ann Lum reports on new research showing that hundreds of thousands of Canadians have to borrow money to fund necessary prescription drugs.

- Andre Picard writes about the appalling lack of public policy support for caregivers. And David Baxter reports on the growing number of newborns being stripped away from their families in Saskatchewan.

- Finally, Andrew Coyne criticizes Doug Ford's plan to return to systemic cash-for-access fund-raising - previously deemed unacceptable by all of Ontario's parties - now that his government has power to sell.

New column day

Here, on the yawning gap between talk and action when it comes to building up Regina's downtown with more focused residential development.

For further reading...
- The Underutilized Land Study referenced in the column is here (PDF), and was the subject of a recent report by Emily Pasiuk.
- Pasiuk also reported here on Andrew Stevens' push for answers about the underdevelopment of Broad Street.
- The City's overall community plan is available here, while links to neighbourhood plans are here.
- Finally, the latest from the "revitalization" project is here - again with no apparent news since the demolition of the old Taylor Field stadium in October 2017.

Update: The good news is that there's at least been some funding announced for the "revitalization" project.  The bad news is that its website linked to above has been disappeared, suggesting there isn't much appetite to have people pay attention to its status.

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Sara Mojtehedzadeh reports that the Ford government's move to strip sick days away from workers was made without any attempt to consider the consequences for public health. And Emma Paling reports on how public protests at least delayed the final passage of the bill designed to attack employment standards and reduce the planned minimum wage, while Michal Rozworski debunks the Montreal Economic Institute's propaganda piece intended to criticize any minimum wage increases. 

- Rachel Aiello reports on the Auditor General's findings that the Canada Revenue Agency grants more leniency to large corporations and wealthy people with offshore dealings than to the general public. And D.C. Fraser notes that the Saskatchewan Party is refusing to provide any information about the money being gifted to Nutrien in "head office" giveaways even as its executive functions move out of the province.

- Jim Harding offers a reminder that time isn't on our side in trying to combat climate breakdown - and that every day of delay only makes the fight more difficult. And Mike Crawley points out that the apparently climate change policy model for the Ontario PCs (and other right-wing governments) is an Australian scheme which has led to greenhouse gas emission increases.
 
- Robert Fife, Steven Chase and Xioa Xu report on the Cons' use of related non-profit corporations to avoid federal spending limits.

- Finally, Mattha Busby discusses how safe injection sites are saving lives across Europe, even as the UK and other regressive jurisdictions insist on maximizing the harm done to drug users.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Enclosed cats.

Tuesday Evening Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Katrina Miller writes that Canada's economic future lies in developing equitable and sustainable growth, not following the U.S. in its race to the bottom:

There is a growing body of evidence that rising inequality is threatening every aspect of our collective well-being - social, economic, environmental and health-related. In Canada, like in many other countries, wages have stagnated in most earning brackets while precarious unstable jobs have ballooned. This toxic combination has become the biggest contributor to economic inequality in Canada. The U.S. corporate tax cuts that were supposed to bring working people prosperity have largely resulted in windfalls for shareholders. Very little has trickled down to the average worker⁴.  Clearly, the U.S. hasn’t set much of an example to follow if we wish to shrink the gap between the rich and everyone else.

We should also be asking whether we are building a world for future generations, but that isn’t where our economy is headed right now. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently announced that we have twelve years to contain global warming to a 1.5C rise, or face world-wide and devastating consequences. Whether we do so now by choice or in a decade by default we have to change the way we live, and find a far less carbon intensive path forward. Countries that are early adopters of a low carbon economy will have an easier time, and may even find great success exporting technology and expertise to the rest...
...
Closing Canada’s worst tax loopholes and cracking down on tax avoidance would create the revenue needed to implement universal pharmacare and bolster other social and educational programs that make Canada a great place to live and work, for everyone. A healthy, educated and equitable society has long been one of Canada’s strong suits when it comes to economic competitiveness, it’s worth investing in.

- Campaign 2000 offers (PDF) a National Child Day reminder that far too many Canadian children are facing poverty and malnutrition, while Laurie Monsebraaten focuses on the importance of child care as a means to end child poverty.

- Chris Selley discusses the cruelty of Doug Ford's cuts to Ontario's advocate for children and youth. Katie Hyslop reports on a British Columbia child welfare system stacked against low-income parents. And Kristy Kirkup reports on Romeo Saganash's push to investigate the involuntary sterilization of Indigenous women.

- Barb Pacholik writes about the need for far more legal protections for people trying to escape domestic violence.

- Lucas Powers reports on the Caregivers Action Centre's call to treat foreign caregivers as people rather than disposable labour. And Warren McCall discusses how unduly low minimum wages end up imposing costs on everybody.

- Finally, the Canadian Press reports on Climate Transparency's study showing Canada having the worst per-capita greenhouse emissions levels in the G20.