The young and the mobile are exercising their right to just leave
Signs of the end of summer are beginning to appear, and with it the back to school sales are starting. Most retailers are forecasting that the back-to-school season will be better than in 2014. However, beside the Back to School sale signs are more Help Wanted signs –not only in retail stores but also in…
The old rules under the defunct Immigrant Investor Program still apply in Quebec
As proud and happy Canadians, many of us get upset when we think that our government is selling Canadian citizenship cheaply. The now defunct federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) was selling Canadian citizenship very cheaply. Individuals with a net worth of $1.6 million (all figures are in Canadian dollars) who were willing to lend $800,000…
The traditional employees' share of the workforce is falling as more and more people work part time, part year, on contract or as self-employed
Every generation thinks that the music of their youth is where it’s at. We select our listening channels by the decades in which we grow up. I had an old aunt who learned to dance in the era of Latin music – rumbas and sambas. That was real music for her and she spent her…
Opportunities for unskilled and lower skilled workers are fast disappearing
We have an economy to provide a good living for people. Unfortunately, for many Canadians, our economy is not doing its job. Income, and especially wealth, are unequally distributed. Too many people don’t have enough work, are poorly paid or have no work at all. There is a growing gap between what many potential workers…
A minimum income program or negative income tax sounds good, but the numbers do not work
Income is, for many people, a sexier thing to talk about than sex. Conversations and media are focused on who gets how much. That the rich have lots and are getting more rots our socks. Thomas Piketty in his book, Capital in the Twenty-first Century, advocates for a global wealth tax to distribute income more evenly. It…
Compared to other larger Canadian centres, the Vancouver area isn’t doing too well
Jobs, jobs, jobs! This has always been the rallying cry in British Columbia elections. Although big corporations are often talked about as bad guys, almost everyone seems to want the kind of jobs they provide. These include high paid executives, senior professionals like accountants and lawyers, managers and the many people who actually produce the…
Changes could also lead to rise in illegal workers
Canada’s recent changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) are slamming the door on low-skilled workers trying to come to Canada, and in some cases to stay in the country. To some, this might not seem to be a bad thing, but a shortage of low-skilled workers will have consequences in both the short…
YVR shows what can be done with a little entrepreneurial spirit
The people of British Columbia are unhappy will the governance of the B.C. Ferry Corporation as fares increase and service declines. But another B.C. transportation company shows what can be done with a little entrepreneurial spirit. The ferry services it provides are considered an essential part of the highway system of British Columbia. However, the…
B.C. can’t live off just tech and tourism
There used to be a joke that Vancouverites loved the forest industry until they found out it involved cutting down trees. It was an overstatement, of course, but it goes to a central issue I see on display in the debate about Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). British Columbia was built, in large part, by thriving…
Need for people who can tell computers what to do growing fast
The car would not go and had to be taken to the garage. No big deal, right? But it would take a day or so to get it fixed; not because it needed a part or a mechanic was unavailable, but because there was a software problem and the software guy won’t be in until…