currency

Saturday January 18, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 18, 2020

$60 payout ‘putting money back in parents’ pockets’, education minister says

May 4, 2019

The minister of education is offering parents money for childcare costs incurred during rotating teachers’ strikes.

Stephen Lecce says parents can apply for amounts from $25 to $60 per day for children under twelve.

Lecce says if all unions were to walk out, subsidies for childcare would amount to $48 million a day.    

“Just for clarity, every day that all unions withdraw services, that full withdraw saves the government $60 million dollars in salaries,” Lecce said. “So the concept here is we know that’s not our money, it’s our tax dollars, we’re using it. It’s the savings from their withdrawal of service.”

November 22, 2019

Parents of pre-schoolers at school-based child-care centres affected by the strikes will get the most money. Those with children in grades 1 through 7 will get less and parents of high school students will get nothing.

Lecce said the government’s motivation for the payout was to put money “back in the pockets of working people in Ontario.”

“At the end of the day the greatest constituency that bears the costs of this are parents and middle and low-income families who have to find childcare on short order,” he said.

As for criticisms that the payout was a bribe to parents, Lecce said he wasn’t surprised it was being spun by teachers’ unions as such.

August 29, 2019

“I think union leaders, respectfully, must accept the premise that there’s a cost when a child is staying home,” he said. “We have examples, real human examples, of individuals and low-income families and single parent families where they have to take vacation days.”

“Those will eventually add up,” Lecce said. “So it is absolutely in the interests of the taxpayer to return that money to them to make their life a little bit better and a little less difficult during this time of turmoil.”

“And it underscores our commitment to standing with families against this escalation.” (CBC) 

 

Wednesday June 14, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 14, 2017

Ontario offers public servants ‘unprecedented’ contract extensions, 7.5-per-cent raises over 4 years

July 20, 2010

Ontario is offering public servants a four-year contract extension with 7.5-per-cent raises, which, if ratified, would avoid possibly contentious bargaining before the next provincial election.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union workers would get 1.5 per cent on July 1, then one per cent on Jan. 1, 2019 and another one per cent every six months for the life of the deal. The approximately 35,500 workers and correctional staff represented by OPSEU are employed across the public sector, from administration and enforcement to social work, IT and laboratory staff.

The possible deal follows the Liberal government’s successful offering to teachers and education workers of two-year extensions that came with four-per-cent raises and more than $275 million in additional funding.

OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas called the scope of the latest contract extension offer “unprecedented” and said he suspects it is related to the June 2018 election.

“I’m kind of shocked the government actually made us any kind of an offer,” Thomas said. “It’s no secret that my union and myself, my executive board, we’re always in a battle with the government…We’re at odds with them on a lot of fronts.”

But, Thomas said, the offer contains a number of positive changes with no demands of concessions for members, and no matter the motivation he’s looking for the best deal for the workers.

Premier Kathleen Wynne disputed that the offer was about the upcoming election.

“My position has always been, since I’ve been in elected politics, has been that good working relationships with our labour partners is good for the people of the province,” she said.

For many years now, the government has only been able to offer public-sector workers small increases, as it worked to eliminate a multi-billion-dollar deficit, but the budget is now balanced.

“One of the reasons that we have been able to come to this position now where we are able to balance the budget, where we are able to make investments, is that we’ve worked very well with our labour partners,” Wynne said. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

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Thursday March 10, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Thursday March 10, 2016 Canadian woman will be on next series of bank notes, Trudeau announces The image of an iconic Canadian woman will appear on the next issue of bank notes, Prime Minister Trudeau announced today. "A Canadian woman will be featured on the very first of the next series of bills expected in 2018," Trudeau said. "Today, on International Women's Day, the Bank of Canada is taking the first step by launching public consultations to select an iconic Canadian woman to be featured on this new bill." The government and the Bank of Canada did not indicate which denomination would showcase the iconic female Canadian. Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who stood alongside the prime minister with other members of the Liberal caucus and former Mississauga, Ont., mayor Hazel McCallion during the announcement, noted that it is "high time to change." "One of the very first things I had the honour of doing as the new finance minister was asking the governor of the Bank of Canada, Stephen Poloz, and his colleagues at the bank whether it's in fact possible to put a woman on the bank note," said Morneau. The finance minister said he was told the central bank had been looking into the possibility for some time and was keen to support the initiative. From now until April 15, Canadians can visit the Bank of Canada's website to submit nominations for the woman they think should appear on the bill. http://www.bankofcanada.ca/banknoteable/ The nominees can be any Canadian woman, either by birth or naturalization, who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, achievement or distinction in any field, said a release from the central bank. The nominees cannot be a fictional character and must have died prior to April 15, 1991. Once the nomination period is over, an independent advisory council made up of academics and cultural leaders will review the submissions and present a short list to Morneau for his con

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 10, 2016

Canadian woman will be on next series of bank notes, Trudeau announces

The image of an iconic Canadian woman will appear on the next issue of bank notes, Prime Minister Trudeau announced today.

“A Canadian woman will be featured on the very first of the next series of bills expected in 2018,” Trudeau said.

“Today, on International Women’s Day, the Bank of Canada is taking the first step by launching public consultations to select an iconic Canadian woman to be featured on this new bill.”

The government and the Bank of Canada did not indicate which denomination would showcase the iconic female Canadian.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who stood alongside the prime minister with other members of the Liberal caucus and former Mississauga, Ont., mayor Hazel McCallion during the announcement, noted that it is “high time to change.”

Kim Campbell

Kim Campbell

“One of the very first things I had the honour of doing as the new finance minister was asking the governor of the Bank of Canada, Stephen Poloz, and his colleagues at the bank whether it’s in fact possible to put a woman on the bank note,” said Morneau.

The finance minister said he was told the central bank had been looking into the possibility for some time and was keen to support the initiative.

From now until April 15, Canadians can visit the Bank of Canada’s website to submit nominations for the woman they think should appear on the bill.

My short list

My short list

The nominees can be any Canadian woman, either by birth or naturalization, who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, achievement or distinction in any field, said a release from the central bank.

The nominees cannot be a fictional character and must have died prior to April 15, 1991.

Once the nomination period is over, an independent advisory council made up of academics and cultural leaders will review the submissions and present a short list to Morneau for his consideration. (Source: CBC News)

 

Wanted: Canadian money woman

WomannoteWednesday March 9, 2016

Marking International Women’s Day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced yesterday that in 2018, Canada will include the face of a Canadian woman on one of our banknotes, a woman who isn’t Queen Elizabeth. There are a couple things that will disqualify someone from appearing on our money – a fictional character, and being alive for the last 25 years.  So, sorry, Anne of Green Gables, you’re not the real deal. Sorry Margaret Atwood, Celine Dion, Joni Mitchell, Pamela Anderson, Karen Kain, Sheila Copps, and Kathleen Wynne. Sorry Ellen Fairclough and Jane Jacobs, you’ve died too soon, and while Kim Campbell might make an appearance on a future bill, she’s long from being dead. So here it is, in my estimation, the short list that includes the most likely woman to be featured on a forthcoming Canadian banknote. If I’m missing someone, add it below.

Laura Secord (1775-1868)

Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942)

Emily Carr (1871-1945)

Nellie McClung (1873-1951)

Agnes Macphail (1890-1954)

Mary Pickford (1892-1979)

Judy LaMarsh (1924-1980)

Margaret Laurence (1926-1987)

Lotta Hitschmanova (1909-1990)

Barbara Frum (1937-1992)

Thursday January, 14, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Thursday January, 14, 2016 Canadian dollar will drop to 59 cents US in 2016, Macquarie forecasts A day after the loonie slipped below the 70-cent US level for the first time since 2003, a forecaster at investment bank Macquarie says he expects the loonie to lose another 10 cents to reach an all-time low of 59 cents by the end of 2016. David Doyle of Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd. lowered his Canadian dollar forecast to 59 cents US on Tuesday. That would eclipse the all-time low for the loonie, set on Jan. 21, 2002, at 61.79 cents US. Doyle knows of what he speaks. Last February, when the Canadian dollar was valued at just over 80 cents, he Ñ correctly, as it turns out Ñ predicted the loonie would hit 69 cents US at some point in the next 12 months. It did so Tuesday. "Once [the loonie] reaches this level," Doyle said, "it should remain subdued through [the end of] 2018 and potentially even longer." Doyle's new forecast doesn't see the loonie above 65 cents US at any time between the end of 2016 and the two years that follow. The loonie has been whipsawed of late by oil and the U.S. dollar. Oil prices can't find a bottom, with a barrel of the North America crude oil benchmark dipping below $30 a barrel for the first time in 13 years on Tuesday. That's dragging the loonie down with it, as Canada's dollar is widely considered to be a play on oil prices. But strength in the U.S. dollar is making the loonie look even worse. Economic uncertainty makes investors flock to assets perceived as safe, and for the most part none are perceived to be safer than the U.S. dollar. That drives up the greenback's value. So while the Canadian dollar is sliding lower compared to most currencies, it looks especially cheap compared to the U.S. buck. (Source: CBC News) http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/macquarie-loonie-forecast-1.3401644 Canada, USA, dollar, loonie, currency, George Washington, bridge, cross, borde

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday January, 14, 2016

Canadian dollar will drop to 59 cents US in 2016, Macquarie forecasts

A day after the loonie slipped below the 70-cent US level for the first time since 2003, a forecaster at investment bank Macquarie says he expects the loonie to lose another 10 cents to reach an all-time low of 59 cents by the end of 2016.

Friday January 30, 2015David Doyle of Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd. lowered his Canadian dollar forecast to 59 cents US on Tuesday. That would eclipse the all-time low for the loonie, set on Jan. 21, 2002, at 61.79 cents US.

Doyle knows of what he speaks. Last February, when the Canadian dollar was valued at just over 80 cents, he — correctly, as it turns out — predicted the loonie would hit 69 cents US at some point in the next 12 months.

It did so Tuesday.

“Once [the loonie] reaches this level,” Doyle said, “it should remain subdued through [the end of] 2018 and potentially even longer.”

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Thursday October 15, 2009 Big problems in higher dollar There is a certain giddiness attached to a soaring Canadian dollar, with visions of cheaper trips to Florida or New York for those who canÊafford to travel. There is also a degree of smugness about us doing better than the Americans in managing the economy. We should dismiss such thoughts, however. The fact is that a higher-valued dollar is a disaster for Ontario's economy, based as it is onÊexports of manufactured goods into the U.S. market. Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) estimates that, for every hike of oneÊcent in the value of our dollar, 25,000 factory jobs are lost. And since the beginning of this year, the loonie has gone up 15 cents. Partly this is attributable to our better fiscal situation, in comparison to the tax-averse Americans. (The U.S. deficit Ð a staggering $1.6Êtrillion this year Ð is "unsustainable," according to the Congressional Budget Office.) And partly it can be traced to rising prices forÊcommodities, particularly oil, for the loonie is now a "petro-dollar." For manufacturers, this is a double whammy: the higher dollar makes their products less competitive in the American market, and higherÊoil prices drive up their costs. "Canadian manufacturers are really caught between a rock and a hard place," says CME President Jayson Myers. Prime Minister StephenÊHarper notes the "difficult effects" on the economy. (Source: Toronto Star) Canada, Dollar, loonie, strength, strong, imports, exports, fish, skeleton, bones, economy

The good old days

Doyle’s new forecast doesn’t see the loonie above 65 cents US at any time between the end of 2016 and the two years that follow.

The loonie has been whipsawed of late by oil and the U.S. dollar. Oil prices can’t find a bottom, with a barrel of the North America crude oil benchmark dipping below $30 a barrel for the first time in 13 years on Tuesday. That’s dragging the loonie down with it, as Canada’s dollar is widely considered to be a play on oil prices.

June 17, 1998But strength in the U.S. dollar is making the loonie look even worse.

Economic uncertainty makes investors flock to assets perceived as safe, and for the most part none are perceived to be safer than the U.S. dollar. That drives up the greenback’s value. So while the Canadian dollar is sliding lower compared to most currencies, it looks especially cheap compared to the U.S. buck. (Source: CBC News)