The bankruptcy of Sears Canada, and the threat that its underfunded pension plan won't pay what it promised, has caught the attention of members of Parliament. Understandably so. People don't get a second chance at retirement. Getting an annuity less than you counted on is a terrible blow.
After the sponsor of an insolvent pension plan has gone bankrupt, moreover, governments have no happy choices. A bailout – taxpayers paying for the actions of an irresponsible employer – would be unfair, and set a terrible precedent. Some want a national pension guarantee fund that would charge premiums and pay out upon failures. But experience in the United States, Ontario and elsewhere shows that those schemes also tax responsible people to…
As it contemplates the possibility of a modernized NAFTA, Canada should seek to improve labour mobility throughout North America to address skill shortages in Canada.
The narrative around the Trump regime focuses on Canada's increased advantage in attracting skilled international workers. But those same tougher U.S. immigration policies bring a threat: American employers may try to hire more Canadians who can easily cross the border to meet the demand for high skills.
As a result of rapid technological changes, employers' needs for high-skilled workers grow every year. Since the North American free-trade agreement came into force more than 20 years ago, new occupations have been created. The Canadian market faces a…
In its interest-rate announcement on Wednesday, the Bank of Canada once again underlined that future changes in rates would be conditional on the data. Wednesday's news statement noted that the Governing Council will continue to focus on how sensitive the economy is to interest rates, how economic capacity evolves, and changes to wages and inflation.
That is fine as far as it goes, but for households and businesses trying to anticipate changes in the overnight rate, and therefore changes to market rates, knowing that monetary policy is "data-dependent" – as the phrase has it – leaves a lot of unanswered questions.
To clear up the uncertainty, the bank should consider publishing its projected path forward for interest rates…
