Numerous surveys taken over the years have shown that Canadians view the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as this country’s most important national symbol — ahead of hockey, the Mounties and our national anthem.
Economy
The case for an economic charter of rights and responsibilities
The economic charter would attempt to balance out the forces that drive the economy and ensure fairness for all Canadians
What’s more, a national survey conducted by the Environics Institute last year found that an overwhelming majority of Canadians believe the charter has been positive for the country. The charter guarantees Canadians a wide range of rights, including freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of mobility, as well as the right to life, liberty and security of the person.
Although it guarantees a number of important rights, the charter alone is not sufficient — it needs to be fortified with an economic charter of rights, one that includes the right of workers to accumulate wealth through profit participation.
Canada could become one of the first countries in the world to establish an “economic charter of rights and responsibilities,” with rights that guarantee Canadians the ability to participate in the economy and responsibilities that require the government to manage public finances in a fiscally sound manner.
The biggest void in our society right now is a national focus on the strength of our economy. An economic charter would be a big step forward in terms of putting in place a permanent framework to ensure that our economy functions properly and that Canadians get a fair share of the profits they help produce, while also keeping taxation as low as possible.
The economic charter would be embedded in the Canadian Constitution and would therefore be legally binding, giving it real teeth instead of simply being a collection of statements or a wish list.
As a result, the charter should include the right of all Canadians who work at companies with more than 300 employees to receive 20 per cent of the company’s annual profits.
Where there are rights, there are usually also responsibilities. But the responsibilities contained in the charter would fall mainly on the shoulders of government rather than on citizens. Government responsibilities could include a number of items, such as the responsibility to balance the budget on an annual basis and the responsibility to eliminate any debt it has incurred.
To keep bureaucratic growth in check, we should adopt a standard benchmark used to measure how countries are performing economically. One type of benchmark or measuring stick would be to look at government spending as a percentage of gross domestic product.
Another would be the share of public-sector employment as a percentage of the country’s total employment. But perhaps the best — and simplest — measuring stick would be the number of public-sector employees per thousand inhabitants.
A study done by a French government policy institute shows that when this benchmark is used, Canada is one of the highest among OECD countries, with a rate of about 100 public sector employees per 1,000 people, while the United States sits at around the 70 mark and Japan is the lowest at 40. I would propose that Canada adopt a benchmark of 50 public-sector employees per thousand people.
The economic charter would attempt to balance out the forces that drive the economy and ensure fairness for all Canadians. It would lead to economic democracies, and economic democracies are the basis for democracy itself.
National Post
fstronachpost@gmail.com
Frank Stronach is the founder of Magna International Inc., one of Canada’s largest global companies, and an inductee in the Automotive Hall of Fame.
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OTTAWA – The federal government is expected to boost the minimum hourly wage that must be paid to temporary foreign workers in the high-wage stream as a way to encourage employers to hire more Canadian staff.
Under the current program’s high-wage labour market impact assessment (LMIA) stream, an employer must pay at least the median income in their province to qualify for a permit. A government official, who The Canadian Press is not naming because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the change, said Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault will announce Tuesday that the threshold will increase to 20 per cent above the provincial median hourly wage.
The change is scheduled to come into force on Nov. 8.
As with previous changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program, the government’s goal is to encourage employers to hire more Canadian workers. The Liberal government has faced criticism for increasing the number of temporary residents allowed into Canada, which many have linked to housing shortages and a higher cost of living.
The program has also come under fire for allegations of mistreatment of workers.
A LMIA is required for an employer to hire a temporary foreign worker, and is used to demonstrate there aren’t enough Canadian workers to fill the positions they are filling.
In Ontario, the median hourly wage is $28.39 for the high-wage bracket, so once the change takes effect an employer will need to pay at least $34.07 per hour.
The government official estimates this change will affect up to 34,000 workers under the LMIA high-wage stream. Existing work permits will not be affected, but the official said the planned change will affect their renewals.
According to public data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 183,820 temporary foreign worker permits became effective in 2023. That was up from 98,025 in 2019 — an 88 per cent increase.
The upcoming change is the latest in a series of moves to tighten eligibility rules in order to limit temporary residents, including international students and foreign workers. Those changes include imposing caps on the percentage of low-wage foreign workers in some sectors and ending permits in metropolitan areas with high unemployment rates.
Temporary foreign workers in the agriculture sector are not affected by past rule changes.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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