Last month, for the first time, Canada’s Department of Finance released a separate Jobs Report along with the federal budget. Problem: Canada’s job creation record, as indicated in Statistics Canada’s Job Vacancy Statistics (JVS), has been dismal. Solution: Ignore the JVS, use something else and hope no one notices. Unfortunately, as The Globe and Mail … Continue reading
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty thinks that expanding Canada Pension Plan benefits might be a good idea, but just not now. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business thinks it might never be a good idea and has launched a national campaign against the reform. Continue reading
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced a three year-freeze on employment insurance premiums for employers and employees on Monday as a way to support small and medium-size businesses and working Canadians. “We are able to do this because of the falling unemployment rate — more people are working, fewer people are claiming employment insurance benefits and … Continue reading
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty this morning met with Canada’s largest trades union, the AFL-CIO, to discuss transferring nearly $2 billion of funding for labour training from the provinces to a voucher system for individuals ahead of the 2013 budget. The transfer was part of a broader discussion between Flaherty and Robert Blakely, the chief operating … Continue reading
Federal budget cuts could be felt far, far away — up in outer space. A 10 per cent budget cut over 3 years may impact new projects most. Industry leaders are worried that cuts to the Canadian Space Agency announced in the recent budget might hurt critical programs. There are fears of possible layoffs among employees, … Continue reading
Hundreds of policy analysts are losing their jobs in the latest rounds of cuts to the public service. Union officials say the cuts raise serious questions about how exactly the Harper government will formulate policies in the months to come. About 690 members of the union representing economists and social scientists were told today that … Continue reading
With the Harper government promising to slash 19,200 federal public service jobs, there is one group of people who stand to lose the most — the students and graduates working to become the next generation of civil servants. It’s a reality Sean O’Brady is acutely aware of as federal layoff notices go out this week, … Continue reading
Roughly one-fifth of all federal cuts over the next three years will come out of the Defence Department, the budget tabled Thursday by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty indicates. It is a substantial hit for a department that for many years saw generous increases under the Harper government and whose budget had approached $21.2 billion last … Continue reading