Blogs

“Paying taxes is a noble enterprise.”

These words spoken by Neil Brooks, professor of tax law at Osgoode Hall Law School, served as a leitmotif of the Tax Fairness Summit in Ottawa, March 29-30, organized and run by Canadians for Tax Fairness.

As Brooks and other speakers at the Summit pointed out, this motif resonated a few decades ago when the concept of a social contract still held significant weight, but sounds counterintuitive in public discourse today where taxes are discussed as though they were an affliction rather than a virtuous contribution to the common good. Read more »

Some weeks I find politicking especially hard to stomach. The recent response to the situation in Attawapiskat makes it one of those weeks.

When the community of Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency, they weren’t asking for a cyclical public debate about who is to blame. They weren’t asking to be a tool to shame or prop up certain political parties. And they certainly weren’t asking to be painfully reminded of Canada’s colonial attitudes in the arrival of a third-party manager.

They were asking for survival. For water, blankets, shelter. Read more »

The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) taking place in Durban, South Africa, has begun! There, leaders will discuss progress in dealing with climate change, and negotiate a new international agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires this year. Canada’s Minister of the Environment travels to Durban next week.

CPJ created a petition based upon the Canadian Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change. It highlights CPJ’s value for the Earth and the importance of creation care. We hope to have many signed petitions tabled in the House of Commons during COP17 (November 28 – December 9, 2011). Take a look at comments from CPJ supporters who have already taken up the petition in their communities. Read more »

It’s never easy saying goodbye. Today is my last day at CPJ before I move on to a new opportunity. I deeply value the mission and work of CPJ, so it’s hard to pass the baton to others and say goodbye to the friends and partners I’ve enjoyed working with at CPJ.

But saying goodbye can also be a celebration of a journey and all the learning and accomplishments that have accompanied it, so there’s a good feeling too. There have been many highlights in my four years at CPJ: meeting with committed Christians across the country who are deeply passionate about justice, working side-by-side with people within CPJ and other organizations who are seriously committed to a vision of a more just, more equitable society, and dialoguing with Members of Parliament and Senators about policy and about the faith and the values that motivate them. Read more »

Two different organizations have recently released helpful reports on economic equality and well-being that cast a somewhat dispiriting picture of the state of prevailing economic philosophies. On Tuesday, the Conference Board of Canada, a business-funded think tank, released its second report of the summer on income inequality, detailing how inequality has risen faster in Canada than in the United States.

The Conference Board report also notes that since the mid-1990s, Canada has had the fourth largest increase in inequality among its peer countries. Read more »

I realize the charts and tables in my previous blog posts updating economic trends are not the easiest to read, as a result of the fact that I have to upload them as an image. So I have created a PDF version of my blog posts from the original Word documents, along with the blog url and date in case you're interested in citing any of the information.

Still Waiting for Recovery: A Series of Blog Posts on the Recession's Impact

Canadians have been deeply saddened by Jack Layton’s untimely death earlier this week. Here in Ottawa – like in so many other places around the country – we’ve witnessed an outpouring of grief and reflection over this loss.

To be sure, Jack was human. Like you and me, he had his shortcomings. He was far from perfect. Many of us didn’t agree with all that he said or did.

But regardless of your politics or theology, I think we can all admire him for the positive, hopeful vision that he so adeptly articulated and promoted. Jack was for something. And, again, even if you don’t agree with all the things he was for, we must admit that there was something likeable and contagious about his ability to inspire change. Read more »

The recession of 2008-2009 hit fast and furiously, with a steep decline in Gross Domestic Product and employment. Since then, both indicators have recovered well, leading some to trumpet Canada’s quick recovery from the recession. But other indicators, such as social assistance caseloads, have not seen the same strong recovery. And still other indicators, while on their way back to pre-recession levels, still reveal worrisome trends.

We know that the recession significantly increased Canada’s poverty levels. But do Canada’s poor now risk being permanently left behind? Our survey of the economic indicators over the past several weeks suggests that the answer is yes. Read more »

We know that the recession significantly increased Canada’s poverty levels. But do Canada’s poor now risk being permanently left behind? In this series of blog posts, we’ll explore the economic indicators, updating the research in CPJ’s 2010 report on the recession, Bearing the Brunt.

Perhaps no other indicator better shows the growth in poverty and insecurity created by the recession than food bank use. The recession caused a record spike in food bank use, which rose 18% between 2008 and 2009. Following the recession, food bank use increased another 9%, reaching a record high of 867,948 people in March 2010. Between 2008 and 2010, food bank use increased 28%.1 (See Chart One for Food Bank Users in Canada.) Read more »

1. 1. Unless otherwise noted, data comes from Food Banks Canada, Hunger Count 2010, 2010, http://www.foodbankscanada.ca/documents/HungerCount2010_web.pdf.

We know that the recession significantly increased Canada’s poverty levels. But do Canada’s poor now risk being permanently left behind? In this series of blog posts, we’ll explore the economic indicators, updating the research in CPJ’s 2010 report on the recession, Bearing the Brunt. Check back over the next few weeks for new blog posts on each indicator!

As Canadians struggle with unemployment, inadequate Employment Insurance and social assistance, and involuntary part-time or precarious work, it is no wonder that more Canadians are struggling with debt. The low interest rates of the Bank of Canada throughout the recession and following have also contributed to growth in consumer credit that the Bank warns may be unsustainable once interest rates inevitably rise. Read more »