Banks and Business |  Les banques et le monde des affaires |
Page révisée le 4 janvier 2012
[ Go to Canadian Social Research Links Home Page ]
Go
directly to the Wal-Mart section of this page! |
|
|
Links are added below in reverse chronological order, more or less... |
|
From the CEOs vs the 99%: No contest when
it comes to pay The first link below this box is to the CCPA report. |
[Click anywhere in the above screen for a 40-second video from CCPA : The Clash for the Cash ]
Canada's CEO Elite 100 : The 0.01%
(PDF - 694K, 21 pages)
http://goo.gl/OenI0
By Hugh Mackenzie
January 3, 2012
Excerpt from p. 14:
Ed Broadbent, the originator of Canada’s commitment to end child poverty in 1989, has argued higher taxes on excessive compensation could provide the financial resources to fund a targeted plan to reduce, and potentially eliminate, the depth of poverty among Canadian families with children. But even without taking the step of raising taxes for Canada’s well-compensated CEOs, there is one simple thing Canada could do to curb CEOs’ enthusiasm—and their take-home pay. We could end the public subsidy of excessive CEO pay packages by getting rid of the loophole that allows the proceeds from cashing in stock options to be taxed as if they were capital gains—at half the normal rate—rather than as ordinary income.
Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/
The CCPA is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with
issues of social and economic justice.
-----------------------
Related links:
Richest CEOs earn 189 times average
Canadian
Top 100 executives earned about $8.38M each in 2010
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/01/03/business-ceo-pay.html
January 3, 2012
Source:
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/news/
---
Top Canadian CEOs got 27 per cent pay
hike
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1109514--highest-paid-canadian-ceos-got-27-per-cent-pay-hike
January 2, 2012
By noon on Tuesday, Jan. 3, the highest-paid chief executives officers in
Canada will have earned as much as the average Canadian makes in an entire
year, according to a new report. The top 100 Canadian
CEOs were paid an average of $8.4 million in 2010, a 27 per cent increase
over the previous year, the report published Tuesday by the Canadian Centre
for Policy Alternatives says. In comparison, the
average Canadian earned $44,366 that year, or 1.1 per cent more than in
2009, the report called Canada’s CEO Elite 100 notes.
Source:
Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/
More than $27 billion spent by Ontario
governments on corporate welfare since 1991
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/research-news/news/display.aspx?id=2147483989
News Release
December 8, 2011
TORONTO, ON—Ontario governments are addicted to dispensing corporate
welfare. Between 1991 and 2009, Ontario governments
of all political stripes spent more than $27.7 billion on direct subsidies
to corporations, says a new report released today by the Fraser Institute,
Canada’s leading public policy think-tank. “Subsidies
to businesses, whether bailouts, loans that may not be repaid, or straight
grants are all forms of corporate welfare and do nothing to benefit Ontario
families,” said Mark Milke, Fraser Institute senior fellow and author
of Ontario’s Corporate Welfare Bill: $27.7 billion.
The report:
Ontario’s Corporate Welfare Bill:
$27.7 billion (PDF - 324K, 10 pages)
http://goo.gl/V0XhV
December 2011
(...) In 2008/09 alone, the bill for corporate welfare [i.e., subsidies
to business and industry] amounted to almost $2.7 billion. For anyone
who paid income tax in 2008, the cost of corporate welfare was $424 per Ontarian.
(...) Ontario’s corporate welfare expenditures could have been redirected
to personal or corporate income tax reductions in equal dollar amounts in
the current fiscal year, among other measures.
[ Comment : The Fraser Institute's solution
to corporate welfare is to redirect Ontario’s corporate welfare expenditures
(i.e., subsidies to business and industry) to personal or corporate income
tax reductions, going so far as to suggest a corporate tax rate of 8% in 2011/12,
a $2.9 billion revenue loss to the Province. "If this option were chosen,
Ontario would have the lowest corporate income tax rate in the country."
Surprise, surprise. So listen up, corporations --- we're going to terminate
your subsidies to make it look like we're tough on everyone, but we'll decrease
your corporate income tax rates to compensate. Suffer, Baby... - By Gilles]
Source:
The Fraser Institute
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/
"A free and prosperous world through
choice, markets and responsibility"
---
But wait!!
How do you really feel about the Fraser Institute??
The
Fraser Institute Produces Junk: Graham Steele
(Nova Scotia Finance Minister)
By Alex Boutilier
September 13, 2011
After delivering an update on Nova Scotia's 2011-2012 budget forecast, Finance
Minister Graham Steele was asked what he thinks about a new report from the
Fraser Institute that ranked Premier Darrell Dexter first among sitting Canadian
premiers in terms of fiscal restraint.
(...)
The Fraser Institute produces junk. It is not a serious institution, it is
a political organization. And it is no accident that their focus is on the
Ontario election (Premier Dalton McGuinty came second last). They're trying
to make themselves relevant to the Ontario election. It is no accident that
the three premiers they rank at the bottom (PEI's Robert Ghiz, McGuinty, and
Quebec Premier Jean Charest) are three non-Conservative premiers who are up
for re-election right now. So the next time the Fraser Institute issues something
that has Nova Scotia at the bottom, remember that when they put us at the
top, my answer is still: the Fraser Institute produces junk. It does not deserve
any serious consideration.
[Speaking directly to the interviewer:]
Remember that the next time you ask me about something else the Fraser Institute
produces, that even when I could say 'yes, this is validation of what we're
saying.' It's ... it's crap.
Source:
Metro News Halifax
HEAR, HEAR.
[Gilles]
------------
From the
National Post:
Corporate ‘welfare’ costs Ontario
$3-billion a year: report
http://goo.gl/LY4aP
Dec 8, 2011
By Tristin Hopper
Source:
National Post
http://www.nationalpost.com/
The
Occupy Movement - October 2011
- this link takes you to a section of the Wealth and Income Inequality Links
page of this site
Canadian
Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) - Home Page
(formerly the Business Council on National Issues)
The Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) is a not-for-profit, non-partisan
organization composed of the CEOs of Canada's leading enterprises. We engage
in an active program of public policy research, consultation and advocacy.
The CCCE is a source of thoughtful, informed comment from a business point
of view on issues of national importance to the economic and social fabric
of Canada.
Canadian
Business Network - Government Services for
Entrepreneurs
- includes links to:
Starting a Business
Growth and Innovation
Grants and Finances
Taxes
Regulations, Licences and Permits
Export, Import and Foreign Investment
Hiring and Managing Staff
Business Planning
Management and Operations
Market Research and Statistics
Marketing and Sales
Selling to Governments
Copyright and Intellectual Property
Environment and Business
Exiting your Business
Inequality
is bad for business
By Armine Yalnizyan
September 15, 2011
In August Canadian Business magazine published my article
on why inequality is bad for business.
[ http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/39123--inequality-is-bad-for-business
]
Last week the International Monetary Fund, not
known for left-leaning views, released a series of articles entitled “Why
Inequality Throws Us Off Balance”.
[ http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2011/09/index.htm
]
One of the papers is by Andrew Berg and Jonathan
Ostry entitled “Equality and Efficiency: Is there a trade-off or do the
two go hand in hand?
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2011/09/Berg.htm
A few months earlier they had written a provocative
piece “Inequality and Unsustainable Growth” documenting how lower
inequality is linked to more sustained periods of growth….and that higher
inequality means more volatility.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/sdn/2011/sdn1108.pdf
Yesterday the Conference Board of Canada released
its second report on income inequality, looking at trends in income inequality
internationally, between and within nations. It follows an earlier report
on trends in income inequality in Canada. These authoritative pieces of research
are funded by 25 big businesses and one government.
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/hot-topics/worldInequality.aspx
| Note : to avoid duplication of links as much as
possible, all links to wealth and income inequality have been moved to
the Inequality Links page of this website: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/inequality.htm |
Rising
CEO Pay: Could it fuel social unrest? (three-part
video, see links below)
June 1, 2011
BNN (Business News Network) has taken on the thorny
topic of soaring CEO pay in Canada. Two former CEOs joined CCPA Senior Economist
Armine Yalnizyan for a discussion about CEO pay and came to agreement on three
important points: Executive compensation has gotten out of line; workers at
the bottom and middle of the income spectrum need a boost, and higher taxes
on the richest Canadians is the easiest solution to this worsening inequality.
Source:
Canadian Centre
for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)
The CCPA is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with
issues of social and economic justice.
Related BNN link:
What is fair compensation for CEOs
and how should that be determined? (three-part video, see links below)
May 30, 2011
BNN speaks to Janet McFarland, reporter, Globe and Mail; Paul
Gryglewicz, Managing Partner, Global Governance Advisors; Courtney Pratt,
former CEO of Stelco.
Fair compensation : three-part video
* Compensation Study - (part
one of the video) (Duration 9:26)
* Compensation
Study - (part two of the video) (Duration 8:14)
* Compensation
Study - (part three of the video) (Duration 5:15)
Source:
Business News Network
Related link:
Who earned
what last year, and why?
By Janet McFarland
May. 29, 2011 (updated May. 31, 2011)
Canada’s biggest companies have made strides in linking CEO pay to performance,
but the effort remains a work in progress in many boardrooms. A
new tool -
Pay for performance: How Canada’s CEOs stack up - developed by
Toronto-based executive pay consulting firm Global Governance Advisors shows
that the link between pay and performance varies significantly, with some
companies disclosing above-average CEO compensation and below-average performance
in 2010.
Source:
Globe and Mail
Only in the good ole U.S. of A.??
CoalCares™
[NOTE : this is not a joke website.]
"Why Free Inhalers? Because COAL CARES.
Coal Cares™ is a brand-new initiative from International
Coal Group, one of America's proud family of coal companies, to reach
out to American youngsters with asthma and to help them keep their heads
high in the face of those who would treat them with less than full dignity.
For kids who have no choice but to use an inhaler, Coal Cares™ lets
them inhale with pride. Puff-Puff™ inhalers
are available free to any family living within 200 miles of a coal plant
[emphasis added], and each inhaler comes with a $10 coupon towards the cost
of the asthma medication itself. "
[Don't miss KIDZ KOAL KORNER!]
Another excerpt from the site:
"What causes asthma?
There is actually no single cause of childhood asthma. In fact, many non-asthmatic children experience asthma-like symptoms while engaging in strenuous exercise, as we all do. More seriously, air-borne particulates from certain plants can cause severe vasal restriction in the airways of particularly susceptible children, leaving them gasping for air at the most inopportune moments. Even more worrisome, bee and wasp stings and snake bites can cause paroxysms and a drawn-out death in particularly allergic individuals. Symptoms from long-term coal particulate exposure, while a great deal more common than the above, are many times less dramatic than the symptoms brought on by extreme allergic reactions."
This is sick.
Only in America, you say?
In the not-too-distant future:
"Today the Harper Government™ passed a Supplementary Appropriations
Bill to purchase 100,000 copies of the "How to live on $9 a day"
CD for distribution to poor households living within a 200-mile radius of
a Conservative government."
Canadians
for Tax Fairness
Over the past few months, a group of progressive organizers
have launched a new organization - Canadians for Tax Fairness - to promote
a progressive tax system, based on ability to pay, to fund the public services
and programs required to meet our social, economic and environmental needs.
For more info on the organization, mission, founding board, etc., see http://www.taxfairness.ca/page/about-us
- home page includes links to : * Home * Petition * About Us * Campaigns
* Get Involved * News * Resources * Donate * Contact Us
Our first campaign is to fight the proposed corporate tax cuts.
Please read and sign our petition:
Petition to Stop Corporate Tax Cuts!
Related links:
Having
Their Cake and Eating It Too:
Business Profits, Taxes, and Investment in Canada: 1961 Through 2010
(PDF - 955K, 38 pages)
By Jim Stanford
April 13, 2011
This study examines historical data on business investment and cash flow from
1961 through 2010, and, using econometric techniques, finds no evidence in
the historical data that lower taxes have directly stimulated more investment.
[ Related
news release ]
Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
---
Canada’s
corporate tax policy sustains child poverty
April 10, 2011
By Simon Rosenblum and Sid Frankel
During the federal election campaign, it is important to remember that Canada
already has one of the lower corporate tax rates in the western world. Now
the Conservatives want to lower it even further. Canada also has one of the
highest rates of child poverty in the western world. Why can’t we be
one of the lowest? It’s a question of priorities — fiscal priorities.
Surely that is the nub of the question.
[ Comments
(12) ]
Source:
Toronto Star
The World's Billionaires
http://www.forbes.com/wealth/billionaires
|
|
2010
Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada
Our ninth-annual report on the state of responsible business in Canada.
Spoiler :
# 1 - Mountain Equipment
# 2 - Cooperators Group Insurance
# 3 - Vancouver City Savings
...
# 47 - Cascades Inc.
# 48 - Royal Bank of Canada
# 49 - Thomson Reuters Corporation
# 50 - Canadian Imperial Bank Of Commerce
Source:
Corporateknights.ca
- for those hungry to make business responsible
"Corporateknights.ca is a website that works together with other
Corporate Knight Inc. media facets to promote understanding on the growing
space where business ethics is not an oxymoron. The aim of Corporate Knights
is to be the primary resource for citizens (both human and corporations) on
the topic of responsible business. To submit to the industry jargon, Corporate
Knights' specific areas of coverage include Socially Responsible Investing
(SRI) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)."
|
|
TD
takes poor into account : Direct Deposit Initiative
keeps social assistance cheques out of hands of pricey payday lenders
By Rita Trichur
January 5, 2010
Toronto-Dominion Bank is using an innovative pilot program that specifically
targets low-income earners as new clients – a financial intervention
of sorts to prevent those folks from cashing their social assistance cheques
at costly payday lenders. Canada's second-largest bank has set up kiosks in
some government offices in British Columbia to reach out to these vulnerable
consumers and snag them as customers just as they receive their welfare cheques.
In some cases, civil servants are now simply referring clients to the closest
TD branch.
Source:
Toronto Star
Soft
landing for Canada’s CEOs
News Release
January
4, 2010
TORONTO—Canadians may have been hit hard by a worldwide economic
recession, but it appears Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs are enjoying a soft
landing. A report on executive compensation by the Canadian Centre for Policy
Alternatives (CCPA), a progressive think tank, reveals Canada’s 100 highest
paid CEOs pocketed an average $7.3 million in 2008, the year recession broadsided
the nation.
A
Soft Landing:
Recession and Canada’s 100 Highest Paid CEOs
(PDF - 432K, 17 pages)
By Hugh Mackenzie
January 4, 2010
"...the
total average compensation for Canada's 100 highest paid CEOs was $7,352,895 in
2008—a stark contrast from the total average Canadian income of $42,305.
They pocketed what takes Canadians earning an average income an entire year to
make by 1:01 pm January 4—the first working day of the year."
Source:
Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives
Tab
for business bailouts and subsidies between
1994 and 2007 exceeds $200 billion,
or $15,000 per taxpayer
News Release
November 27, 2009
VANCOUVER,
BC—Canadian governments provided businesses with more than $202 billion in
bailouts, loans, and subsidies between 1994 and 2007, according to a new study
released today by the Fraser Institute, one of Canada’s leading economic
think tanks.
Corporate
welfare breaks the $200 billion mark:
An update on 13 years of business subsidies
in Canada (PDF - 535K, 11 pages)
December 2009
Related link:
Corporate
'welfare' hit $200B in 13 years: Report
Bailouts, subsidies
hurt taxpayers, says the Fraser Institute
By John Morrissy
November
28, 2009
Bailouts and subsidies to businesses by Canadian governments surpassed
$200 billion between 1994 and 2007, adding up to $15,126 per taxpayer, according
to a report Friday from the Fraser Institute.
Source:
Canwest
News Service
|
September 2009
From the
Conference Board of Canada:
How
Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada
This website—How Canada
Performs: A Report Card on Canada—assesses Canada’s quality of life
compared with that of its peer countries. We publish an overall report card as
well as individual ones that measure performances in the six categories appearing
below. We release the report card for each category individually throughout the
year.
The Society section of
the report (the link immediately below) was released on September 17/09, and the
Economy section is out since July.
As for the other sections, you'll
note that their content is [for now] dated October 2008 --- but well worth checking
out!
* Society
(Released September 17, 2009)
- incl. * Jobless
Youth * Disabled Income * Elderly Poverty * Child Poverty * Working-age Poverty
* Income Inequality * Intergenerational Income Mobility * Gender Income Gap *
Voter Turnout
* Confidence in Parliament * Homicides * Assaults * Burglaries
* Life Satisfaction * Acceptance of Diversity * Social Isolation * Suicides
*
Economy (July
2009)
- incl. * Forecast 2010 * Income per capita * GDP Growth * Labour
Productivity Growth * Inflation * Unemployment Rate * Employment Growth * Inward
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Performance * Outward FDI Performance
* Innovation (October 2008)
* Environment (October 2008)
* Health (October 2008)
* Education and Skills (October 2008)
Source:
Conference Board of Canada
The Conference Board builds leadership capacity for a better Canada by creating
and sharing insights on economic trends, public policy and organizational
performance.
(About CBC)
Banner
year for Canada's CEOs:
Record High Pay Increase (PDF - 390K, 17
pages)
January 2009
By Hugh Mackenzie
Source:
Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social
and economic justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canada’s leading
progressive voices in public policy debates.
'Corporate welfare bums' cost Canadians
$182-billion: report
[expired link]
By Eric Beauchesne
December 10, 2008
OTTAWA -- Canadians have handed out more than $182-billion -- or $13,639 per
taxpayer -- in business subsidies, bailouts and loans over the past dozen
years, a right-wing think tank says in an attack on what a former NDP leader
coined as "corporate welfare bums." The report from the Fraser Institute,
however, comes as an entire industry is holding out its had for billions more
in financial aid from taxpayers as the economy slumps into recession.
Source:
The National Post
Complete report
from The
Fraser Institute:
Corporate
welfare: Now a $182 billion addiction
A fiscal update on business subsidies
in Canada (PDF - 104K, 8 pages)
December 2008
When the Fraser
Institute published the first study on corporate welfare one year ago, the tally
between April 1, 1994 and March 30, 2004 amounted to $144 billion. That was the
amount Canadian governments distributed to businesses in the form of subsidies
from federal, provincial, and municipal treasuries (i.e., taxpayers) over the
10-year period. One year later, and with two more years of data available, that
figure has climbed to over $182 billion for the 12 years between 1994 and 2006.
Canadian
tab for corporate welfare exceeds $180 billion; no evidence that subsidies provide
net benefits
News Release
December 10, 2008
VANCOUVER, BC—While
politicians in Ottawa argue over how much additional money the government should
give business in the name of economic stimulation, a new report from independent
research organization the Fraser Institute shows that Canadians already provided
more than $182 billion in corporate welfare to businesses between 1994 and 2006.
Source:
The
Fraser Institute
"A free and prosperous world through
choice, markets
and responsibility"
[ Sourcewatch
calls The Fraser Institute
"a libertarian think tank based in Vancouver."
]
Democracy
Watch
Democracy Watch is Canada's leading citizen group advocating democratic reform,
government accountability and corporate responsibility, and the most successful
national citizen advocacy group in Canada over the past 13 years in winning
systemic changes to key laws.
20
Steps towards a Modern, Working Democracy
Democracy Watch's campaign mandate, 20 Steps towards a Modern, Working Democracy,
sets out changes that all governments in Canada should enact (according to
their respective powers) to ensure that Canadian citizens have a greater and
more meaningful role in government and business decision-making in Canada.
|
Related link:
CSR
Directory - "Resources for Promoting Global Business Principles and Best
Practices"
- 700+ links to
progressive companies, groups, councils, foundations (etc.) promoting corporate
social responsibility, in Canada and around the world
Source:
CSRwire
- Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire
"CSR is defined as the integration
of business operations and values, whereby the interests of all stakeholders including
investors, customers, employees, and the environment are reflected in the company's
policies and actions."
- based in Vermont, U.S., but includes Canadian
content
Top
Ten Wealthiest People in History
Bill Gates, the 20th richest person
in the history of the world
Source:
Lists
of people by wealth
[ Wikipedia
]
New
Year’s party still going for top CEOs
Press
Release
January 2, 2008
TORONTO - By the time most Canadians roll up their
sleeves to begin a new year of work, Canada's best paid 100 CEOs will already
be having a good year: They'll pocket the national average wage of $38,998 by
10:33 am January 2nd.
Complete report:
The
Great CEO Pay Race: Over Before it Begins (PDF file - 326K, 12 pages)
December
2007
Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Executive
Excess 2007: The Staggering Social Cost of U.S. Business Leadership
(PDF file - 988K, 32 pages)
14th Annual CEO Compensation Survey
This report,
released in August 2007, provides data and analysis about CEO compensation and
the CEO-worker pay gap. Also include comparisons of compensation for U.S. business
leaders with other U.S. leaders and European business leaders, and proposals for
change. Opens directly into a PDF document. From the Institute for Policy Studies
and United for a Fair Economy.
Source:
Institute
for Policy Studies
The Institute for Policy Studies strengthens social
movements with independent research, visionary thinking, and links to the grassroots,
scholars and elected officials.
Found
in:
Librarians' Internet Index
Two
days, two reports, two very different worlds
June 29, 2007
The
World Wealth Report 2007 released on Wednesday by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini
reports that the very rich (so-called high net worth individuals – HNWI)
are getting even richer. And the forecast is the extremely wealthy are going to
get even richer due to their dominance of global capital markets, especially commercial
real estate and real estate investment trusts. Meanwhile, the Canadian Centre
for Policy Alternatives released a detailed research report on Thursday called
Rising Profit Shares, Falling Wage Shares which shows that real hourly wages for
workers (the people that do things, rather than own things) “have been stagnant
for 30 years running”.The two studies make fascinating reading, when set
side-by-side...
Source:
The
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ The
Wellesley Institute ]
Canadian
workers’ paycheques in 30-year holding pattern : Study
Press
Release
June 28, 2007
OTTAWA – Canadians are working harder and smarter,
contributing to a growing economy, but their paycheques have been stagnant for
the past 30 years, says a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Complete study:
Rising Profit Shares, Falling Wage Shares - (PDF File, 301K, 16 pages)
Related link:
www.GrowingGap.ca
GrowingGap.ca
is a project of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
"(...)What
does the growing gap look like? In 2004, the richest 10% of families raising children
earned 82 times more than the poorest 10% -- almost triple the ratio of 1976,
when they earned 31 times more. In after-tax terms the gap is at a 30-year high"
Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
The
Poverty Business
Inside U.S. companies' audacious drive to extract more profits
from the nation's working poor
"(...) In recent years, a range
of businesses have made financing more readily available to even the riskiest
of borrowers. Greater access to credit has put cars, computers, credit cards,
and even homes within reach for many more of the working poor. But this remaking
of the marketplace for low-income consumers has a dark side: Innovative and zealous
firms have lured unsophisticated shoppers by the hundreds of thousands into a
thicket of debt from which many never emerge."
NOTE: you'll find links to the following related items on the same page as the above article:
* Chart:
Borrowing Binge
* Graphic:
Extreme Interest
* Chart:
The Other Banking System
* Graphic:
From Thin Wallets, Big Money
* Study
Now—And Pay And Pay And Pay Later
* Chart:
Expensive Debt
* The
Economics of the Poverty Business
* Cutting
the Cost of Poverty
Source:
Business
Week - May 21/07 issue
Time
to get Big Business off the Dole
News Release
January 16, 2007
"(...)A new report from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, entitled
On the Dole: Businesses, Lobbyists and Industry Canada’s Subsidy Programs
tracks billions of dollars in handouts for the period April 1, 1982, to
March 31, 2006. All said, the industry department authorized $18.4-billion
in various subsidies, paid to businesses, associations and foundations in
47,960 separate grants, contributions, loans and loan guarantees from –
incredibly – 150 different programs. This figure does not include subsidies
from other departments, federal regional development agencies, or corporate
welfare programs from other levels of government.
Complete report:
On
the Dole:
Businesses, Lobbyists and Industry Canada’s Subsidy Programs
(PDf file - 513K, 33 pages)
January 2007
Source:
Canadian
Taxpayers Federation
Related Link:
Corporate
welfare alive and well
January 19, 2007
Carol Goar
"It's
getting lonely on the battlefield. A generation ago, David Lewis galvanized fellow
New Democrats and caught the imagination of the nation with his campaign against
"corporate welfare bums."The governing Liberals staunched the outflow
of funds for a while. But when Canadians stopped looking, they reverted to their
old habits. Two and a half years ago, Stephen Harper revived the NDP war cry,
vowing that a Conservative government would "get out of the grants and subsidies
game." But once he became Prime Minister, he started handing out money to
Pratt & Whitney, Alcan and other industrial giants. Today, only the Canadian
Taxpayers Federation is manning the barricades."
Source:
The
Toronto Star
Special
Report
The 400 Richest Americans
September 21, 2006
A nine-figure
fortune won’t get you much mention these days, at least not here. This year,
for the first time, everyone in The Forbes 400 has at least $1 billion.
Source:
Forbes.com
The Top Ten:
1. William H. Gates III
2. Warren E. Buffett
3. Sheldon Adelson
4. Lawrence J. Ellison
5.
Paul G. Allen
6. Jim C Walton*
7. Christy Walton*
8. S. Robson Walton*
9. Michael Dell
10. Alice L. Walton*
[*NOTE that four of the ten top billionaires
in the U.S. are from the family that owns Wal-Mart, the American juggernaut that
routinely gives its new staff applications for the local welfare and food stamp
programs because Wal-Mart employees aren't paid enough to make ends meet.]
-
see the special Wal-Mart section further down on this page
Back
to Forbes:
"The collective net worth of the nation’s wealthiest
climbed $120 billion, to $1.25 trillion."
To put this figure in perspective:
In 2002, $1.25 trillion represented about 12% of the U.S. gross domestic product. (http://www.iipa.com/pressreleases/2004_Oct7_Siwek.pdf)
With a population of about 83 million, Germany’s total government revenue in 2003 was $1.25 trillion (http://www.newstartnigeria.org/germany.asp)
In total, about $1.25 trillion of annual public spending is on security and support (Medical care - Cash aid - Food benefits - Housing benefits - Education aid - Services - Jobs and training - Energy assistance )
Cost
of Iraq War to top $1.25 trillion dollars, says academic
Rhett
A. Butler, mongabay.com
September 20, 2005
Hmmmm......
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Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults Time
For A Fair Deal TORONTO, ON – (May 15, 2006) - Today in Toronto an unprecedented coalition of business, labour, academic, non-profit, and think tank leaders released their report “Time for a Fair Deal” calling for fundamental reform of Canada’s income security programs for working-age adults. Declaring the current system in need of a thorough overhaul, The Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working-Age Adults (MISWAA) identified three key issues plaguing low-income Canadians: - Many working
people cannot earn enough to make ends meet even when working full-time for a
full year – at least 30% of low-wage workers fall into this group, Key recommendations to the federal government include: -
Reforming Employment Insurance to address the significant decline in coverage,
Key recommendations to the Ontario Government include: -
Establishing an independent body, with representation from employers and labour,
to recommend periodic increases to the minimum wage, Complete report: Time for a Fair Deal (PDF file - 271K, 67 pages) Context MISWAA was formed in the fall of 2004 by the Toronto City Summit Alliance, a broad-based coalition of civic leaders in the Toronto region, and by St. Christopher House, a multi-service neighbourhood centre that works with low-income people in Toronto. The Task Force is a diverse group made-up of over fifty experts and leaders from major employers, policy institutes, labour unions, academia, community organizations, advocacy groups, foundations and governments, as well as individuals with first-hand knowledge of income security programs. MISWAA Frequently-Asked Questions (PDF file - 106K, 7 pages) Related Links: Google
Web Search Results: Compromise
versus conviction Task
Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults ("MISWAA") St.
Christopher House Toronto
City Summit Alliance Boston
Consulting Group - Toronto Office |
|
|
The Canadian Financial Services Sector
June 2005
Source:
Department
of Finance Canada
The
economic well being of Canadians has not advanced in years, say TD economists
Press
Release
January 18, 2005
The take-home pay of Canadians has stagnated over
the past 15 years, highlighting the need for stronger productivity and for lower
tax burdens, said TD economists in a new report entitled, In Search of Well
Being: Are Canadians slipping down the economic ladder?
