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Category: Government

Better Together

So far in the pandemic, the fiscal picture in Canada looks like this: The federal government is splashing enormous amounts of cash through EI, CERB, CESB etc. to support individuals, and sustaining businesses through wage subsidies, rent subsidies, and cheap loans. Provincial governments have focussed mostly on meeting the front-line costs of the crises – such as costs in hospitals, long-term care centres – and on some boutique financial measures to help households (some extra money to seniors, breaks on

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May 4, 2020 No Comments

The Spring 2021 Election

Yesterday, we talked a little bit about what fiscal re-balancing between Ottawa and the provinces might look like after the pandemic, and I argued that on balance, the likeliest option was some type of uploading of responsibility for income support to the federal government.  But this might not be the only thing that changes after the pandemic: there are a lot of big, ambitious ideas out there about what a post-Corona Society looks like: lower carbon futures, expanded social security/protection futures

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April 29, 2020 No Comments

Post-Covid Fiscal Rebalancing

One of the weirder things about the present crisis is that we seem to be re-writing all the rules of federalism without even noticing it.  This will significantly affect the future of higher education. The most important changes have been with respect to the Canada Emergency Relief Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB).  Though there have been ebbs and flows over the history of confederation, income support for the under-65s, absent a strong link to the labour force (i.e.

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April 28, 2020 No Comments

Coronavirus (20) – So, that Student Support Package

If there is one thing that unites the higher education community right now, it is the fact that we are all so, so, tired.  One thing after another.  And yesterday, just as I was thinking about what nice non-coronavirus story I could tell you, the feds dropped a $9 billion program to support students through COVID.  So naturally, this here is your explainer. The comms on this are a bit of a mess, but basically, this initiative has four pillars,

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April 23, 2020 7 Comments

Coronavirus (19, but Time is a Flat Circle). Shovel This.

Today I want to talk about economic stimulus and what that is likely to look like for universities and colleges. To be clear, the $100 billion plus in money which has gone out the door so far in emergency benefits, wage subsidies, and various other programs, is not stimulus.  What we are doing now is – in the words of the excellent Jennifer Robson – more like inducing a medical coma; keep the patient (the economy) in a kind of low-functioning stasis

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April 22, 2020 No Comments

One Thought to Start Your Day

One Thought to Start Your Day is our founder and CEO Alex Usher’s popular daily blog, brimming with up-to-the-minute insights and informed opinions on today’s higher education industry.

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