Tag Archives: NDP Canada

Finances

Seven ways to tackle inflation without raising interest rates

Originally published on Corporate Knights

Editor’s note: Guy Dauncey’s Big Solutions: Raising interest rates is a cruel cudgel that hurts the most vulnerable. There are other responses that governments and central banks should consider.

By Guy Dauncey

There are many causes of inflation, but there’s only one solution central banks seem willing to consider: increase interest rates. This has many people scratching their heads: Why would this bring down the price of rent, food or gas? Won’t it increase costs for anyone who pays interest on a variable-rate mortgage or consumer loan? And won’t it make essential green investments more difficult?

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Forests

Leaked letter puts focus on Canada’s forestry trade priorities ahead of COP15

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Canada supports the goals of the European Union’s forestry trade rules, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says, after a leaked letter recently revealed the country’s efforts to water down proposed EU regulations right before the United Nations’ global biodiversity conference kicks off in Montreal.

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Cost of Climate Change

Canada’s new climate adaptation plan puts up $1.6 billion to tackle wildfires, heatwaves, flood risk and more

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Canada’s much-anticipated roadmap to weather the impacts of climate change is out, and it includes $1.6 billion in new spending to fortify infrastructure, protect human health and predict future risks.

The country’s first National Adaptation Strategy lays out specific targets for its five focus areas: disaster resilience, health and well-being, nature and biodiversity, economy and workers and infrastructure.

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Housing, Politics, Poverty, Seniors

Blaney: Seniors living below the poverty line, GST rebates & carbon pricing

More than a third of the ‘housing insecure’ respondents to the survey on Quadra Island and 15% on Cortes Island were seniors. The percentage was lower throughout the Strathcona Regional District, but a significant number of residents are paying more for rent or mortgages than they can afford.  In the second half of an interview with North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney, she talks about ways the government can help seniors living below the poverty line.

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Housing, Politics, Poverty

Rachel Blaney: Canada needs a ‘Bar of Dignity’

According to data from the 2016 census, 20% of Quadra Island residents and 27% of Cortes Island residents are paying more for their homes in rent or mortgages than they can afford. More recent studies suggest that a significant number of families throughout the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) are so financially stretched that they are at risk of becoming homeless. 75% of the ‘housing insecure’ respondents to the ‘Collecting Stories of Where We Live’ survey on Cortes Island, and 33% on Quadra Island, are working. These are some of the people North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney is referring to, when she talks about the need for a bar of dignity.

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