And that could rise to 10 million deaths per year within 30 years, at an economic cost of US$100 trillion
A deadly threat hangs over us that’s much more immediate than climate change and has already started killing people. It now kills over 700,000 people a year worldwide. The fatalities could rise to 10 million per annum within 30 years. Together, cancer, diabetes and cholera take fewer lives. The economic cost would be US$100 trillion.…
The sense of being marginalized and treated as second-class provinces has long been felt in the West. But opting out won't suit our needs
I was born in Quebec, and raised, married and had my children in Montreal. You might think that makes me a Quebecer but there are those who disagree. I’m an Anglophone. Some feel that only Francophones with generations of history in the province are ‘real’ Quebecers. For the past several decades, I’ve lived in B.C.…
In the gig economy, more and more of us will be out on our own. That means we need to hone new skills to help our enterprises succeed
As 2019 morphs into 2020, more than numbers on the calendar are changing. Technology, communications, media, weather – even the way we work and earn our livings – aren’t what they used to be. It used to be jobs, jobs, jobs. That’s what we wanted for ourselves, our partners, our kids; it's what politicians promised…
Many people take a long time to launch on adult life because they've never been taught to spend less than they make
“The first responsibility of adulthood is paying your own bills,” according to Jamaica Finance Minister Peter Phillips. That country has worked hard to wean itself of dependency on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and is in a position to stand on its own feet economically. Paying your bills is a definition of adulthood that applies…
We were once the envy of the world. Now, talented young people and entire businesses are leaving for better prospects elsewhere
I think Canada is the best country in the world. I’ve always lived here but I’ve travelled extensively. Most people from other countries seem to share a positive opinion of Canada, though a few who live close the equator think of Canada as ‘instant popsicle.’ Climate aside, Canada is seen as a haven of freedom,…
Trying to deal with both affordability and the environment is like to trying to suck and blow at the same time
The goal of politicians is to get elected. At one time, political parties put together carefully constructed platforms, and voters could then support candidates from the party whose platform they preferred. Now, rather than putting a platform together in advance, parties are more likely to poll the populace to find out what appeals to the…
While robots replace human workers on the factory floor, better-paid jobs are created to design, build and maintain the robots
The robots are coming, the robots are coming! They may not be an unstoppable evil army ready to take over the world as in a bad sci-fi movie, but they’re definitely making headway on factory assembly lines and increasingly in other industries. A United Kingdom research firm, Oxford Economics, did a study that covered seven…
Let’s be very careful about electing a government that’s bribing us with our own money
Before we select our next set of national leaders in the Oct. 21 federal election, we should be paying attention to matters that don’t usually concern us day to day, like the treasury. What the treasury does we call fiscal policy, but it’s essentially budgeting: determining levels of revenue (taxes) and expenditure (all the programs…
The Lax Kw’alaams and Metlakatla need to put the Ridley Terminal money to work on things that will lead to future returns for their people
If there are any special Canadian values, fairness is surely one of them. We want and expect our laws and courts to be fair. Our economy, too, should give everyone an opportunity to do well. The resulting income streams should not excessively reward the rich nor should our taxes penalize the poor. The United States,…
Someone once said you could teach a parrot economics if you could teach it two words – supply and demand. I’m an economist and I try not to take that too personally, but it’s true that the idea of supply and demand can be applied in many contexts with very useful results. The basic supply/demand…
But a great deal of work must be done to turn the vision into a reality that serves all Canadians
For the first time, we have a national food policy. That’s good news. The vision is that all people in Canada have access to sufficient safe, nutritious and culturally diverse food. And that Canada’s food system is resilient and innovative, sustains our environment and supports our economy. It’s easy to support such a vision and…
Use mental or physical challenges to strengthen your brain and improve your quality of life as you age
First Nations leaders face enormous challenges in dealing with the economic well-being of their people. They also must try to preserve the history and values of relatively small islands of First Nation people in the huge sea of the dominant North American culture and the English language. Take the example of a bright young Squamish…
Apart from looking good on your resume, summer work experience demonstrates that you have what employers want
Another school year is over. It’s time for high school and post-secondary students to land a summer job. The good news is there are lots of jobs. Walk down any commercial or industrial street and you’ll see “We’re hiring” signs in many businesses’ windows. Many of these jobs are entry-level with fairly low pay. And…
Limiting access to alcohol led to chaos during the Prohibition. Will constraining opioids do the same?
There are so many reasons to be very glad that we live in Canada – one of the main is that we’re governed by the rule of law. Laws and the rules and regulations that underpin them are enacted by democratically-elected governments. They’re enforced and upheld by police and courts that are amazingly upright and…
There are still plenty of jobs at the low end of the pay scale. But wouldn't it be a better idea to simply upgrade your skills?
One day you head out to your favourite store and it isn’t there anymore. It could be a local specialty shop, part of a major chain or even a department store like Sears, whose stores and catalogues have been around seemingly forever. Retail outlets are disappearing all over, along with the jobs they provide. In…