COVID-19

Time to extend financial supports to local governments

Apr 15, 2020
Local governments and regional authorities like TransLink have been missing from federal and provincial economic responses to COVID-19. Local governments are facing collapsing revenues, and unlike federal and provincial governments, they are not allowed to run deficits to cover their operating costs. As a result they are already staring into the abyss of painful austerity… View Article

Food insecurity and hunger during COVID-19

Apr 7, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed holes in our social safety net and significant inequality across BC households. Much of the recent focus has been on workers facing unemployment and renters unable to pay for their housing, with new federal and provincial supports enacted to try to address these needs. In this post I want to… View Article

Taking stock of COVID-19 economic policy measures in BC

A multitude of measures have been tabled by the provincial and federal governments to prop up workers and an economy reeling from mandated closures of businesses brought about by physical distancing measures. Spring 2020 will be a period economic historians will be writing about for decades to come. Most economists were encouraging significant fiscal and… View Article

Concerns about federal wage subsidy program remain as details emerge

Apr 2, 2020
The federal government announced new details yesterday regarding the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) that will flow to employers facing significant revenue declines amid the COVID-19 crisis. CEWS applies to businesses, non-profits and charities of all sizes (including large, highly-profitable corporations) if they are facing a decline in revenue of at least 30 per cent… View Article

Ne provoquez pas une crise pour les organismes de charité et sans but lucratif avant que le programme de subvention salariale entre en jeu

MISE À JOUR – 8 avril 2020 : Aujourd’hui une lettre a été envoyée à des fonctionnaires clés afin de demander que le nouveau programme de Subvention salariale d’urgence du Canada soit disponible à tous les organismes communautaires à but non lucratif ainsi qu’à ceux de bienfaisance sans qu’on leur exige une perte de revenus en… View Article

Protecting the health and rights of migrant agricultural workers during the COVID-19 outbreak should be a priority

Apr 1, 2020
Manually skilled migrant workers contribute vitally to the Canadian food chain, including to agricultural and seafood industries. But food security cannot be achieved on the backs of workers who are denied equal access to social protections and benefits, and made uniquely vulnerable to coronavirus transmission. With news about this week’s community outbreak among migrant agricultural workers… View Article