Pension

• "We can't advance equality in this country without the power of trade union women fighting on all fronts."
• Members from Unifor locals 240 in Windsor and 673 in Toronto voted to ratify the new collective agreement today, after reaching a tentative deal on Monday.
• The company agreed to sustain and grow its workforces in Windsor and Toronto to address job security and outsourcing.
• Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy.

• SYRACUSE, N.Y., April 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- BPAS has hired Brad Bonno as Vice President of Large Plan and Strategic Services, furthering the company's commitment to accelerating and growing services dedicated to meet the needs of clients in this market segment.
• "We see the need to create a dedicated large plan product and team to leverage our opportunity for growth in this market," said Elizabeth Kaido, BPAS Senior Vice President of Sales and Relationship Management.
• Bringing over 25 years of experience in Retirement Plan Recordkeeping and Investment Advisory Services, Bonno possesses extensive and diverse expertise for the role.
• "What convinced me that BPAS is one of the best kept secrets in our industry is their depth and quality of services.

FloatMe claimed to rescue consumers struggling to keep their heads above water, but left many without a lifeline

• For consumers already underwater financially and desperate for just $50, cash advance company FloatMe’s services turned out to be more sink than swim.
• In addition to $3 million in consumer redress and provisions that will change how FloatMe does business in the future, the settlement includes a provision specifically prohibiting deceptive claims about the use of artificial intelligence, algorithms, or machine learning.

• FloatMe advertises that consumers can “get up to $50 instantly,” suggesting that the company targeted people struggling to make ends meet.
• But consumers who tried to get $50 rarely got even that much from FloatMe.
• What they did get was a raft of undisclosed fees and hassles when they tried to cancel.
• Otherwise they had to wait three days – a catch the FTC says FloatMe didn’t clearly disclose up front.
• In other instances, the FTC says FloatMe simply ignored cancellation requests and continued to help themselves to consumers’ bank accounts.

• In addition, the complaint alleges the defendants violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act by disqualifying people whose income came from public assistance programs.
• In addition to the $3 million financial remedy, the order requires the company to implement a fair lending program similar in form to other FTC actions alleging ECOA violations.
• The action against FloatMe includes compliance lessons for businesses offering similar services, but the advice extends beyond that industry.
• Like any other objective claim, a statement about your company’s use of AI or algorithms requires appropriate substantiation.

• The real GDP growth forecast for 2024 is 0.7 per cent.
• While the Canadian economy is not growing as rapidly as the United States, he argued, few are.

• In our recent book, Fiscal Choices: Canada After the Pandemic, we explain why Canada’s anemic growth rate is worrying and why politicians and their advisors believe, almost unanimously, that economic growth is a policy imperative.
• Similarly, transfers to other governments — the Canada Health Transfer and Equalization payments, for example — are legal requirements.
• Reductions in spending or increases in taxes are austerity measures and austerity has so far produced limited, if any, payoffs in terms of economic growth.

Interest rates are outpacing growth rates

• When growth is strong and interest rates are low, debt is manageable.
• As long as the social rate of return from government spending is greater than the real interest rate, fiscal deficits help maintain output at potential.
• But right now, interest rates are higher than growth rates.
• At the time, interest payments on the debt consumed 7.04 per cent of the federal budget.
• In 2023, by contrast, the interest rate on bonds had climbed to 3.3 per cent and growth had declined to 1.1 per cent nationally.

Government review processes

• In the 2022 budget, the federal government announced a review of programs to realize savings in the order of $6 billion over five years.
• The 2023 budget and the 2023 Fall Economic Statement doubled down on this initiative, requiring savings in the order of $15.8 billion.
• With the exception of the review process undertaken by the federal government under Jean Chrétien in 1994, program reviews have yielded very little in long term savings.

Economic progress

• There is nothing wrong with reviewing our assumptions about what economic progress looks like and who benefits from a bigger economy.
• But we also need economic growth — not just so we can consume more, or generate more revenue for governments, but so we can take better care of one another.
• Improved productivity, in both the public and private sectors, is another way of saying more sustainable economic growth.

Michael M. Atkinson receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Haizhen Mou receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.