Advocates call on Liberals to fund Canada Disability Benefit in Budget 2024
Persons with Disabilities Minister Kamal Khera will need support at the cabinet table to push for a new multi-billion-dollar social program at a time when the finance minister has spoken of the need for fiscal restraint, say disability and poverty experts.
Gun control and affordability legislation provides much-needed ‘arrow in the quiver’ for Liberals going into 2024, say political strategists
Bills that received royal assent on Dec. 15 as the House wrapped up its work for 2023 include Bill C-21, the Liberals’ gun control legislation; and Bill C-56, the Affordable Housing and Groceries Act.
Union urges public sector pension fund not to pursue rent increases, mass evictions at Toronto apartment buildings
The Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Starlight Investments are moving to evict up to 100 tenants who have been withholding payments in protest against proposed rent increases.
Greater investment needed in municipal infrastructure to accommodate housing demand, says FCM
A local infrastructure investment of about $600-billion will be needed to handle construction of 5.8 million housing units by 2030, according to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
Looking beyond productivity stats will improve outcomes for Canadians
Having a bad short-term productivity performance since 2020 is a problem. Avoiding it at the cost of a continuing decline in the employment rate and increased inequality in the distribution of labour income would have been far worse.
Tenants describe ‘dramatic erosion’ of existing affordable housing, call on feds to take action
A House Human Resources Committee report called for a fund to help non-profits acquire affordable housing. The Nov. 21 fiscal update did not include such a fund, but advocates call for one to be created in the next federal budget.
The cost of not caring
One in four Canadians of employment age combine paid work with caregiving for a loved one, but the majority of employers do not offer accommodations for carers.
Conservatives in no rush to pick at Liberal-NDP anti-scab legislation
Tory pundit Jordan Paquet says that so long as Conservatives can keep the affordability ball in the Liberals’ court, they can box out the Grits’ latest political wedge play with Bill C-58.
Fixing Canada’s problems will remain an uphill struggle until voters start holding provinces accountable
The provinces have been unwilling to step in and use their authority over municipalities to fix the housing problem, and now they’re worried about being shown up by the federal minister.
Government-sector job growth dwarfs rise in private-sector jobs across Canada
A nearly stagnant private sector can’t finance rapid growth in the size of government over the long term.
