The recent RBC outsourcing fiasco was so unusual, revealing and, for many Canadians, infuriating. Corporate Canada was watching as RBC flailed around amidst the firestorm of its own creation. You have to know everyone was taking notes. Publicly traded companies will be far more careful on farming out jobs.
Canada's "Temporary Foreign Worker Program" has received significant attention over the past year. Where it appears in the budget, Canada's migration scheme and the current unemployment dilemma is painted by the Conservative government and many commentators afterwards as a competition between promoting migrant labour or Canadian employment. The missing story is that the Conservative strategy is one of divide-and-rule, about making workers -- with or without immigration status -- work more for less.
The gap between rich and poor is widening, which is one of the key points highlighted in a recent publication by the Broadbent Institute. The policy paper entitled "Towards A More Equal Canada," highlights the problems of inequality in Canada, how we got to where we are, and how we can move forward.