Current inflation is killing off the Canadian middle class

An Analysis by Don Pittis – Business – CBC News

This week, new figures from Statistics Canada show annual inflation hit 2.4 per cent. That’s up from 2.3 per cent last month, the ninth month in a row of a rising inflation rate. And while the things you buy are more than two per cent dearer (three per cent if you live in Ontario) than they were a year ago, wages have not been keeping pace.

• ​Over the same period, StatsCan data shows that Canadian wages rose only 1.9 per cent. In Ontario, where prices were up three per cent, wages rose a mere 0.7 per cent. That means if you live in Ontario and spend what you earn, you are effectively 2.3 per cent poorer than you were only one year ago.
• Current inflation is killing off the Canadian middle class: Don Pittis – Business – CBC News.

Related:

• Inflation in Canada rises to 2.4% in June
• Middle-class Canadians: Just how stretched are you?

Why is Canada the most tolerant country in the world? Luck

The Globe and Mail

Is Canada the most tolerant place in the world because Canadians are more enlightened than others? The answer is no. Accidents of geography and history account for our blessings.

Some may dispute the premise of the question above, but I do believe that Canada can make an honest claim to being the most open-minded and open-hearted place on earth. For two decades now, a land once occupied by descendants of European settlers has been importing just under 1 per cent of its population annually – 258,000 in 2012, more than five million in total – with most new arrivals coming from Asia and the Pacific. No other country on earth has done such a thing. No country brings in as many immigrants as we do, on a per capita basis, from as many different places. And we all get along with each other amazingly well.

Why is Canada the most tolerant country in the world? Luck – The Globe and Mail.

Ontario’s election ads: Profiling the leaders’ messages – Ontario Votes 2014

 Nil Köksal
 CBC News Toronto

Three leaders. Each a hard sell in his or her own way, each with a laundry list of unflattering customer reviews.

For voters, even if you’re not sold on what’s on offer, how the product is pitched can make a big impact on whether you’ll buy what they’re selling.

For politicians, ads are another level of reach. Beyond knocking on doors, staged town halls and photo-ops, advertising is the closest the party leaders will get to many voters. Ads can be crucial to success, and they can be campaign killers. Sometimes they fail (remember former Progressive Conservative prime minister Kim Campbell’s backfiring Chrétien ads?) sometimes they stick (recall the federal Conservatives’ “not a leader” Stéphane Dion spots?).

The goal is for the message to be crisp and memorable.

In this Ontario campaign leading up to the June 12 vote, we’re seeing tactics as varied as the leaders’ platforms, with three profiles emerging

Ontario’s election ads: Profiling the leaders’ messages – Ontario Votes 2014 – CBC.

What are we doing to reduce Poverty?

Click on the picture to see an infographic on the cost of Poverty in Ontario.

How well do you know Canadiana? Take the quiz:

Did you know that basketball was invented by a Canadian-born doctor? Or that beloved TV star Mr. Dressup was born in the U.S.? To celebrate the 146th birthday of Canada, Globalnews.ca is testing your knowledge of Canadiana.

See how many of these questions you can answer correctly — without using Google (cheating is soooo not Canadian!) — or challenge your friends and co-workers.

Take the quiz: How well do you know Canadiana? | Globalnews.ca.

Canada’s reputation is tops for third year in a row !

Canada Politics – Yahoo! News Canada.

Canada actually has the best reputation in the world for the third year in a row. As explained by Forbes magazine, the Reputation Institute‘s annual 2013 Country RepTrak Study, asked 27,000 people in all the G8 countries to give their opinions about 50 countries. Respondents were asked four questions on a country’s overall reputation, about whether respondents had a good feeling about said country, about how much they admired the country and about how much they trusted the country.

They were then asked 16 questions under three comprehensive categories: effective government, appealing environment and advanced economy. Canada finished with a score of 76.6 out of 100 and was followed by Sweden (76.5), Switzerland (76.3), Australia (76.1), and Norway (74.1). At the other end of the spectrum was are Russia (36.7), Nigeria (34.0), Pakistan (28.8), Iran (22.6), and Iraq (21.2). The United States finished 22nd.

Canada’s reputation is tops for third year in a row | Canada Politics – Yahoo! News Canada.

Canada lacks ‘quality’ employment: CIBC

Canada lacks ‘quality’ employment: CIBC | Balance Sheet – Yahoo! Finance Canada.

BC Election: Clark pulled off an upset for the history books…

British Columbia Liberal Leader Christy Clark pulled off an upset for the history books on the West Coast Tuesday night, confounding every pre-election poll and prediction, retaining power for her centre-right coalition. Clark entered the 28-day campaign almost 20 points behind New Democrat Adrian Dix, who ran an error-free, but timid, campaign trying to ensure that voters here would feel no fear of switching to a party which had only governed in the province three times before.

Yes, British Columbia had surprised, as it has before. Ninety minutes after the polls closed, it was being declared the “West Coast miracle.’’ But the Clark victory marked the second time in two years that major pollsters got an election in Western Canada wrong — brutally wrong (Toronto Star, May 14, 2013)….

The election was a stunning turnaround for Premier Christy Clark, although she lost her own seat in Vancouver-Point Grey. Polling had for months put her far behind NDP Leader Adrian Dix, and many thought a change was inevitable after 12 years of Liberal rule.

Voters appeared to have grown tired of the governing Liberals. And Ms. Clark, who came back to win the party leadership after leaving her job as a radio hotline host, was never regarded seriously by many. Her critics, including some in her own party, believed she lacked the gravitas necessary to continue as leader.

On the campaign trail, however, she connected with voters, putting on hard hats, hugging heavy equipment operators and repeatedly saying that more than anything she wanted to put British Columbians back to work.“Tonight we have received a mandate from the people of British Columbia,” Ms. Clark said after fighting her way through a jubilant mob to take the stage and give her acceptance speech. (The Globe and Mail, May 14, 2013)