• About
    • About the Director
  • Contact
  • Publications Index
  • Australia
  • Français
Centre for Future Work

A non-partisan centre of excellence, developing timely and practical policy proposals to help make the world of work better for working people and their families.

  • Research
    • Research
    • Sector Bargaining Clearing House
  • Coverage & Commentary
  • PowerShare
  • False Profits
  • Online Learning
    • Debunkers’ Academy
    • Economics for Everyone: How to Cut Through the Jargon
  • Research
    • Research
    • Sector Bargaining Clearing House
  • Coverage & Commentary
  • PowerShare
  • False Profits
  • Online Learning
    • Debunkers’ Academy
    • Economics for Everyone: How to Cut Through the Jargon
  • Research,  Wages

    Happy Minimum Wage Day, Canada!

    October 1, 2025 /

    Half of Canada’s provinces all increased their minimum wage on October 1: Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. So this is a good occasion to celebrate the importance of higher minimum wages as a powerful tool for improving incomes and reducing inequality.

    Read More
    Jim Stanford
  • Environment & Work,  Industry & Sector,  Research

    Enormous Jobs Potential from Energy Transition Investments

    September 27, 2025 /

    Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford recently collaborated with the Centre for Civic Governance and the Canadian Building Trades Unions (CBTU) on a new report cataloguing the future job-creation for building trades workers that will result from upcoming investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency measures, in order to meet Canada’s commitment to achieve a net-zero economy by 2050.

    Read More
    Jim Stanford
  • Macroeconomics,  Research,  Trump Tariffs

    Building a Sovereign, Value-Added, and Sustainable Economy

    August 18, 2025 /

    In this existential 'Elbows Up' moment for Canada's economy, public discourse has been overly influenced by loud demands from corporations and their political backers to implement their age-old agenda: deregulate (especially environmental rules), cut taxes, build more pipelines.

    Read More
    Jim Stanford
  • Globalization,  Research,  Trump Tariffs

    A Bad Deal with Trump is Worse than No Deal at All

    July 22, 2025 /

    Trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. are continuing, as the revised August 1 deadline approaches. Reports indicate that despite Canadian concessions (on border security, defense spending, and the Digital Services Tax), the U.S. is refusing to remove current and threatened tariffs on Canadian products. Last week Prime Minister Carney warned Canadians that an eventual deal with the U.S. will likely include continued substantial U.S. tariffs. An emerging narrative from government and business quarters suggests that if tariffs imposed on Canada are lower than on other countries (resulting in a less severe ‘average effective tariff’ rate), then Canada should count this as a victory.

    Read More
    Jim Stanford
  • Gender and Work,  Public Sector Work,  Research

    The Economic Benefits of Expanded Child Care in British Columbia

    June 24, 2025 /

    The Centre for Future Work has released a new report documenting the widespread economic benefits resulting from the ongoing expansion of early learning and child care services (ELCC) in British Columbia, as part of the roll-out of the new Canada-wide $10-per-day child care system.

    Read More
    Jim Stanford
  • Globalization,  Research,  Trump Tariffs

    New Data Confirms Canada-U.S. Trade is Balanced and Mutually Beneficial

    May 13, 2025 /

    The U.S, Census Bureau has released year-end 2024 data on America’s bilateral trade flows in goods and services. This data reconfirms that the U.S trade deficit is neither new, nor an “emergency” (as Trump has claimed in order to invoke special emergency powers to set tariffs). And it reconfirms that the U.S. trade relationship with Canada is uniquely balanced, and beneficial to the U.S.

    Read More
    Jim Stanford
  • Economic Literacy,  Macroeconomics,  Research

    Per Capita GDP is a Deeply Flawed Measure of Economic Performance and Living Standards

    May 6, 2025 /

    During the recent federal election, some business and political commentators used data regarding Canada’s relative performance in growing its “GDP per capita” to argue that Canadians have experienced a “lost decade” of stagnation and falling living standards. In this two-part analysis that first appeared here and here in Policy Options magazine (published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy), Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford explains how GDP per capita is calculated – and why it is not appropriate for measuring human well-being or economic progress.

    Read More
    Jim Stanford
  • Environment & Work,  Inflation,  Macroeconomics,  Research

    New Report Shows Speculative Oil Markets Drove Inflation Crisis — And It’s Poised to Happen Again

    March 19, 2025 /

    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.

    Read More
    Jim Stanford
  • Inequality,  Research,  Trade Unions,  Wages

    Alberta Continues to Slip in National Wage Rankings

    January 28, 2025 /

    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.

    Read More
    Jim Stanford
  • Globalization,  Macroeconomics,  Research,  Trump Tariffs

    Who’s Subsidizing Whom?

    January 12, 2025 /

    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.

    Read More
    Jim Stanford
123

Recent Posts

  • Happy Minimum Wage Day, Canada!
  • Bringing Capital Home Would Boost Canadian Growth, Reduce Trade Imbalance with U.S.
  • Enormous Jobs Potential from Energy Transition Investments
  • Elbows Up for Canada’s Economy
  • Financial Disclosure not Enough to Steer Investment in the Energy Transition

About Us

Read more on our About page.

The Centre for Future Work is a progressive labour economics research institute, founded in Canada in 2020. The Centre is a unique centre of excellence on the full range of economic issues facing working people. It is independent and non-partisan.

Archives

  • October 2025
  • September 2025
  • August 2025
  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • October 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
Centre for Future Work 2025 ©
  • Website design by Cedar Bluff Graphics