The future of growth

July/August 2022 Issue

From the Editor

What’s so bad about growth?

All of us are trained from an early age to be big fans of growth. We want children to grow. We want flowers to grow. We want gardens and trees and crops to grow. Growth is good, that’s the idea.

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In this Issue

Making a living in Saskatchewan

Simon Enoch

This year the CCPA Saskatchewan office released our living wage calculations, hot on the heels of the provincial government’s decision to raise what is currently Canada’s lowest minimum wage at $11.81 per hour to $15 per hour over the next two years.

Monitor Print Labour & Worker's Rights

Could decolonizing policy redress environmental injustice and racism?

Anna-Liza Badaloo

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) is the matriarch of environmental legislation in Canada. But it’s been over 20 years since it’s been revised. And environmental advocacy groups have a lot to say about what changes could advance environmental justice and equity in Canada via Bill S-5.

Monitor Print In Conversation

Barriers and opportunities: how Canadian activists see degrowth

Claire O’Manique / James Rowe / Karena Shaw

Degrowth is a social movement and field of research founded on the premise that perpetual economic growth is incompatible with the biophysical limits of our planet.

Monitor Print Indigenous Rights Degrowth

Non-viable businesses need an"off-ramp"

David Macdonald

Throughout the pandemic, many small- and medium-sized businesses have weathered the storm, thanks to federal government help. In his deputation to Canada's federal Industry Committee, David Macdonald says it's time to give those businesses an "off-ramp".

Unearth this buried treasure: adult education in Manitoba

Jim Silver

When she was 34 years old and a single mother of four living on social assistance in a large public housing complex in Winnipeg’s North End, Aja Oliver saw a sign at a community centre for an Adult Learning Centre. She had not finished high school, had struggled, as did everyone in her family, with the many complexities of life in poverty, and was fed up with being on social assistance. She ventured in. Her life has not been the same since.

How public funding for private options reinforces school segregation in Quebec

Erika Shaker

Erika Shaker, in conversation with Anne Plourde, researcher at l’Institut de Recherche et d’Informations Socioéconomiques (IRIS)

Citizenship education: It’s about more than the curriculum

Codie Fortin Lalonde

It’s been a few months since I defended my dissertation on provincial public education policies in Canada (particularly in relation to students and citizenship) and I’ve had some time to both (not) think about, and reflect on my research with a little bit of distance.

Contributors

Authors appearing in this issue

Randy Robinson

Randy Robinson is the Ontario Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Follow him on Twitter at @RandyFRobinson.

Simon Enoch

Simon Enoch (he/him) is Director of the Saskatchewan Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Regina. Find him on twitter at @simon_enoch

Claire O’Manique

Claire O’Manique(she/her) is a researcher based in Vancouver, B.C. She holds an M.A. in political ecology from the University of Victoria.

James Rowe

James Rowe (he/him) is an associate professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria.

Karena Shaw

Jim Silver

Jim Silver is Professor Emeritus at the University of Winnipeg. One of three co-founders of the CCPA-Manitoba 25 years ago in 1997, he has written extensively on poverty and poverty-related matters, including housing and education.

Erika Shaker

Erika Shaker (she/her) is the Director of the CCPA National Office and Editor of Our Schools / Our Selves. She is on Twitter at @ErikaShaker.

Codie Fortin Lalonde

Dr. Codie Fortin Lalonde is a recent graduate of the PhD in Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies at Carleton University and is currently the acting Business Agent and Organizer for CUPE Local 4600 (the Union representing Teaching Assistants and Contract Instructors at Carleton University). Her interests include public and higher education, critical discourse studies, policy, social justice, and the labour movement. You can follow her on Twitter @girlwnohedges

Anna-Liza Badaloo

Anna-Liza Badaloo (she/her) is a writer and program consultant working at the intersection of health, environment and social justice. Find her on Instagram and LinkedIn at @annalizabadaloo