The Latest

Economics of Doing Business and the New Minimum Wage

The January 1, 2019 looming deadline of a minimum wage increase to $15 / hour has people on both sides of the pay cheque debating the merits of this increase and the potential unintended consequences of moving so much so fast.  We have the employer discussing the impact to their bottom line as any increase in expenses directly impacting profit.  On the other side of the paycheque we have social leaders advocating the positive economic impact that this wage increase will have on both the individual employee and the greater economy.

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Ending Poverty

I was in San Francisco this week and spoke with pride about Canada's work to end poverty. I may have spoken too boldly. There is something about being in U.S. that makes me want to emphasize how progressive Canada is and share how much more advanced our social agenda is. My behaviour might be likened to a younger brother coming home to visit his more accomplished older brother and provide an update about his year away. 

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Working yet Homeless in Banff, Alberta

Banff, Alberta. Located in one of the most beautiful areas in Canada. People come from all over the world by the bus loads. There is money being made for sure. Nothing wrong with making money, right?

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Living Wage and the Cities Reducing Poverty National Summit

In early April I had the pleasure of presenting on a Living Wage panel at Tamarack’s Cities Reducing Poverty Summit hosted this year in Hamilton, Ontario.

The Prosperity Roundtable from Chatham-Kent, Ontario was participating to talk about the unique challenges that may be experienced in rural communities when engaging in Living Wage conversations.  Framing the conversation in a way that leads to successful outcomes was incredibly important for our organizing committee; in our community that meant using our local Living Wage number as an opportunity to dialogue about the important policy considerations that can be used to help build a more prosperous community.  

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Connecting to a Cause: When Business Gives Back

In 2015, Vidyard, a video marketing and analytics company based in Kitchener, Ontario, launched an initiative called PlugIn aimed at helping to mitigate some of the negative effects of gentrification in downtown Kitchener by giving back to their community.

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Social Procurement: A Potential Lever in Poverty-Reduction?

In Alberta, a Social RFQ (request for quotes) issued last fall, was intentionally designed to provide work opportunities to previously homeless, recently housed individuals, who were workforce ready, but faced barriers to employment. This IS social procurement: an approach to better leverage taxpayer funded supply chains to move beyond ‘do no harm’ and start working proactively to ‘do some good.’ Social procurement works on the premise that taxpayer funded contracts should also enhance social value in our communities.

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