Tausi Insider

An affordable energy advocate says the imposition of consumer carbon pricing in Nova Scotia is a good idea, but adds that rising energy costs continue to pose problems for people with lower incomes. Brian Gifford, chair of the Affordable Energy Coalition of Nova Scotia, believes most people will be helped by the federal government’s plan to provide quarterly rebates to offset carbon pricing costs, beginning in July. The rebates will see households in Nova Scotia get $248 with every payment, while those in the other two provinces where carbon pricing was imposed on Tuesday – Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island – will see rebates of $328 and $240 respectively. But Gifford said even more help will likely be needed. “In this time of high oil prices, especially, and rising electricity rates, there is still going to be a problem for people,” Gifford said in an interview Wednesday. The carbon price is expected to add an initial 17.4 cents per litre to the cost of heating oil....

The National Retail Federation estimates it accounted for US94.5 billion in losses last year, up sharply from the previous year. Glenn Lowson/Tausi Insider Gus Carlson is a U.S.-based columnist for Tausi Insider Walk into most any drugstore in a U.S. city to buy a tube of toothpaste, a stick of deodorant or a bottle of Aspirin and you may be surprised: They are locked up in cases, like diamond necklaces or Rolex watches, and accessible only by key-bearing employees – if you can find any to help you. The reason? Theft, often accompanied by violence and aggression in urban locations, has quickly become the biggest plague on U.S. retailers. The National Retail Federation estimates it accounted for US$94.5-billion in losses last year, up sharply from the previous year, and nearly half its members are spending more on loss-prevention technology than ever before. Big retailers are sounding the alarm, warning that the issue is so acute, they can no longer account for it in the normal cost ...

New Canadians, including Zahra Aminmoghaddam, centre, from Iran, take the oath of citizenship during a special Canada Day ceremony in West Vancouver on July 1, 2017. DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press David Green is a professor in the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia and an international fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London. “When all you have is a hammer, all the world’s a nail.” This saying isn’t usually seen as a complimentary description of any policy approach but it appears to capture Canada’s immigration policy. Immigration, undoubtedly, touches on nearly every aspect of our economy – from employment to output growth to health care to housing. And to hear the government speak, you would think it’s the right tool for the job in every one of them. The problem is, it’s at best an ineffective hammer for every one of them, and using it more will cause more problems than it will solve. The size of the hammer is big and getting bigger. At...

The honeymoon doesn’t last forever. It is true for jobs as well. If you’ve been in your current job for two years or longer, you may be finding many tasks and situations tedious and repetitive, and the day-to-day may be wearing thin. While the most obvious solution may be to find another job, don’t be so quick to jump ship. There can be value in staying with the tried-and-true, as long as you can find a way to love what you’re doing once again. Here are nine ways to reinvigorate and refresh your attitude about your work. Identify your impact What is the ultimate outcome of what you do? Not at the micro level – think big picture. Do you make someone’s life easier? Do you provide information that will help others solve their problems? Are you the voice of reason when another person is in a crisis? Every job has an impact that is greater than what you see in front of you. A hospital janitor ensures patients avoid infections. A bus driver gives those without vehicles access to food and m...

In his new book Where to from Here: A Path to Canadian Prosperity, former Finance Minister Bill Morneau proposes a national agenda prosperity, and outlines why the Trudeau government has fallen short on execution when it comes to the economy. Kellyann Petry/Tausi Insider Introduction by Andrew Willis Before Bill Morneau became federal finance minister in 2015, the former Bay Street chief executive officer had to win over voters in some of the country’s poorest neighbourhoods in downtown Toronto. Knocking on doors of families struggling to make ends meet, including recent immigrants scrambling to find housing and jobs, was a “reality check” that Mr. Morneau says he used as a touchstone during his five years in government, and in his post-political career. In an interview ahead of next week’s launch of his book, Where To From Here: A Path To Canadian Prosperity, the 60-year-old said his overarching goal as a politician was improving the country’s anemic economic performance, for the be...

The logo of the World Economic Forum in the Alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland, on May 25, 2022. ARND WIEGMANN/Reuters Don Tapscott is an author, executive chair of the Blockchain Research Institute , adjunct professor at INSEAD and a member of the Order of Canada. He formerly led the Global Solution Networks research initiative exploring new methods of global co-operation, problem solving and governance. For years, critics have viewed the annual Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum as a cabal of the rich and powerful, conspiring to bend the world to corporate interests. Today, the political right leads the criticism, spinning up conspiracy theories on how the global elites seek to run the world. Plots range from forced vaccinations and mandatory ID cards, to radical limits on property rights and wealth ownership, to chips implanted in people’s brains. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has aligned himself with the some of these theorists – saying he opposes the WEF’s “socia...

Some users of a system that sends messages to pilots reported delays on Wednesday, but federal officials said the problem was not affecting flights. It is the same pilot-alerting system that broke down spectacularly earlier this month, leading the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly stop all departing flights around the country. An FAA spokeswoman said Wednesday the system that sends NOTAMs – notices to air missions – was online and operational. “Some users have reported slower response times due to high demand, but there have been no reports of impact to flight operations,” she added. The FAA posted an advisory saying that a NOTAM manager application was offline but other methods of entering alerts were working. The notice said that a hotline had been set up between the FAA’s air traffic control command centre “and industry” – presumably meaning airlines. The system is critical to aviation because pilots are required to check NOTAMs before they take off. The FAA said last wee...