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New Report Shows Speculative Oil Markets Drove Inflation Crisis — And It’s Poised to Happen Again
A new report from the Centre for Future Work reveals that financial speculation in global oil markets — not supply shortages or carbon pricing — was the primary driver of Canada’s inflation surge in 2022. The report, Counting the Costs, finds that inflated oil and gas prices, passed directly and indirectly to Canadian consumers and businesses, cost each household an average of $12,000 over three years.
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Three New Videos: Trump’s Trade War; Wages, Profits & Prices; and Defending Living Standards
President Donald Trump’s repeated threats against Canada’s economy have caused great alarm. Meanwhile, home-grown right-wing populist forces have been advancing similar arguments here at home: claiming all of Canada’s problems arise from big government, big unions, or high taxes.
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Canada needs a new National Policy
U.S. President Trump’s imposition of 25% tariffs on most imports from Canada will cause severe economic dislocation across Canada. Hopefully, a combination of negotiations backed by counter-measures announced by Canada will succeed in removing the tariffs in coming months. However, Trump’s actions have permanently damaged the credibility of any Canadian economic strategy based on continental free trade. In this commentary, originally published in the Toronto Star, Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford argues Canada needs to develop a new ‘National Policy’: one focused first and foremost on developing Canadian industries and capacities....
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Amazon’s Union-Busting in Quebec Can Be Overcome
Amazon, the fourth-richest corporation in the world, recently announced the closure of 7 of its warehouses in Quebec because one of them (in Laval) had voted to unionize, and was about to attain a collective agreement (thanks to Quebec’s first-contract arbitration system). This decision will throw 1700 workers out of their jobs. In this commentary, originally published in Canadian Dimension magazine, Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford considers options for overcoming Amazon’s union-busting strategy.
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Alberta Continues to Slip in National Wage Rankings
After a decade of declining real wages, Alberta continues to lag the rest of Canada in repairing wages and living standards for the province’s workers. That is the finding of new research released by the Centre for Future Work.
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Who’s Subsidizing Whom?
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened immediate across-the-board 25% tariffs on imports from Canada, possibly as part of a plan to use “economic force” to annex Canada. Trump claims the Canada-U.S. trade deficit constitutes an “emergency” (thus justifying violation of America’s trade treaties), and amounts to the U.S. “subsidizing” Canada to the tune of $200 billion per year.
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Strikes Have Economics Benefits, Not Just Costs
In the tumultuous years since the COVID pandemic and the subsequent outbreak of inflation, Canada has experienced a large number of work stoppages. Canada experienced over 800 strikes and lockouts in 2023, resulting in 6.6 million days of work time lost. That’s much higher than in most recent years, but still lower than peak levels of industrial disputes experienced in the 1970s and 1980s.
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‘Vibecession’: Reconciling Positive Statistics with Negative Sentiment
Newly released data for the third quarter of 2024 (July-September) shows the economy has continued to grow, albeit slowly. Consumer spending was the brightest light in the third quarter data: growing at an annualized rate of 3.5% (in real, inflation-adjusted terms), and constituting the largest single source of new demand.
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High-Tech Price-Fixing
One worrisome feature of recent bursts of inflation has been the role of automated price-fixing technologies in pushing up prices across entire industries. Companies use special programs to search out the prices being charged by competitors, and detect changes in demand. These algorithms can then adjust prices quickly, at the level judged to be the highest the market will bear.
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$10-per-Day Child Care Plan Already Boosting Canada’s Economy
In 2021, Canada’s federal government announced a new $10-per-day national early learning and child care (ELCC) program, which began rolling out in 2022. It has increased the number of regulated child care spaces in Canada, and significantly reduced (by over 50%) average fees paid by parents.