So much for that buyer’s market. After it appeared that the balance of power in the real estate relationship had finally swung back to the buyer after almost a decade in the seller’s favour, home prices in most major markets in Canada have resumed their seemingly inexorable climb. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, […] More »

It’s not the size of your bureaucracy. It’s how you use it. Onward, Stephen Harper: lead us to the socialist utopia! If you follow the right-wing punditry you’d think comrades Harper, Obama, Brown, and the like are leading us along that slippery slope to—gasp—socialism. Not that any of these leaders has a nice word to […] More »

When Finance Minister Jim Flaherty first revealed his stimulus spending package back in January, he announced that Canada’s Economic Action Plan would “protect Canadians during the global recession” and “put more money in the hands of Canadian families, to help them weather the current storm.” Although Flaherty claims to have introduced a budget that is […] More »

The July-August issue of This Magazine is now in subscribers’ mailboxes (subscribers always get the magazine early, and you can too), and will be for sale on better newsstands coast-to-coast this week. Two pieces from the issue are already online: Jenn Hardy‘s cover story on the new generation of farmers using the principles of permaculture […] More »

You have to wonder what the staff at Canada’s medical schools are smoking. At least one quarter of the schools have accepted money from Big Tobacco to fund their operations, according to a study conducted by the University of Toronto’s Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health in May. Four […] More »

REFRESHER COURSE More »

How to stop high-end magazines from using sweatshop labour More »

The Americanization of Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, is driving up land prices in this hippie hideout–and inspiring long-time residents to take matters into their own hands More »

Yes, the scandal was sleazy. It was offensive to Quebeckers. It wasted $100 million (over four years) that could have been spent on much, much better things. It probably had criminal overtones. More »

Does increasing the minimum wage by 30 cents actually benefit low-wage earners? It seems like employers just pass the added cost on to consumers, increasing the cost of living for everyone, including the working poor. So is a minimum increase really worth it in the end? The simple answer is yes, if only because no […] More »