This announcement from the federal government came after significant pressure from the NDP:

• The BCNDP has implemented such a program and the newly elected Manitoba NDP is taking steps in that direction
• A month ago, the federal NDP was pushing for a national school lunch program in the next budget and had private talks with the Liberals about it
• 10 days ago, the federal NDP passed a motion to call on the gov to fund this program
• Advocacy groups put significant pressure on the government, too

I am happy to see this step towards ending child hunger and its great that the NDP is getting some nice little victories in the minority government.

Details: https://usw.ca/ajax-starbucks-workers-vote-yes-for-union-united-steelworkers/

Do you work at Starbucks? Learn more about the union drive across Canada at https://www.betterworknow.ca/starbucks

Full-time and senior part-time workers will receive an unprecedented pay increase of $2.00 per hour within months. With all workers, full and part-time, receiving an immediate, upfront wage hike of $1.50/hour.

The new deal contains an overall wage improvement of $4.50 per hour for full-time and senior part-time workers and $3.20 for non-senior part-time workers, over the duration of the contract. New hourly rates will reach $25.05/hour for full-time clerks and significantly higher wages for part-time clerks —improvements that some frontline grocery workers describe as “life-changing.”

Back-of-the envelope math puts this at over a 20% raise over the lifetime of the agreement, outpacing inflation.

This is a very good deal, huge for the sector and hopefully precedent-setting. Congratulations to Unifor members at Metro. Strikes are hard.

Some credit as well should go to the union leadership, who immediately backed the workers when they rejected their first agreement and instead opted to strike

As I've discussed earlier in on Reddit, Unifor has recently elected new leadership who want to take the union in a more militant direction:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ndp/comments/wl54ld/lana_payne_a_former_journalist_who_built_her/

Context: Unifor 'appalled' following Ontario Education Minister's comments on child pronouns

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2023/08/29/stephen-lecce-ontario-child-pronouns-schools-canada-unifor/

QUEEN’S PARK – The Official Opposition Ontario NDP welcomes news that the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has decided to ban gambling commercials that feature celebrities and athletes, which will help protect both children and adults from the explosion of unregulated advertising content under Ford’s Conservatives.

In June 2023, NDP MPPs tabled a PMB with their solution for a ban on iGaming advertisements. Prohibiting celebrity and athlete involvement is a welcome first step.

Quotes

“Health professionals have been sounding the alarm about the impact that online gambling advertising is having on people, especially on youth. Today’s news is welcome – now we need to follow the advice of experts and keep pushing for more.”

-MPP France Gélinas (Nickel Belt), NDP critic for Health

“We’ve seen an explosion in advertisements for online gambling ads in the past few years, which puts people with gambling addictions and Ontario youth at risk. I’m pleased to see the AGCO’s recognition that more needs to be done, and hope Ford immediately calls our PMB to second reading debate. Let’s keep pushing and get this passed”.

-MPP Lisa Gretzky (Windsor West), NDP critic for Mental Health and Addictions

“For too many years Ontarians lacked effective consumer protections when it came to online gambling. Today’s action from the AGCO is finally a positive step in the right direction – and a sign that our bill with expanded protections is needed.”

-MPP Tom Rakocevic (Humber River – Black Creek), NDP critic for Consumer Protection

“I’m happy to see the AGCO agree with us about the impacts that gambling ads can have on our children and youth, and welcome today’s news. The evidence has been clear for years and it’s never too late to do the right thing. I’m excited to see our PMB become a reality – it’s the clear next step.”

-MPP Monique Taylor (Hamilton Mountain), NDP critic for Children, Community and Social Services

Transcript: Canadians that are trying to either buy their own home, rent an affordable home, or in the case of Peggy, trying to stay in an affordable home, are all getting kicked in the teeth. They're facing these challenges because the market hasn't been set up for them to compete with families in similar situations with similar incomes. Instead, Canadians wanting to find their way into a home are having to compete with deep-pocketed corporate investors. This is what's structurally wrong with the Canadian housing market.

There are people out there that'll tell you different things about that. The Liberals so far have only been willing to take action concerning foreign buyers, but we know they only represent about five percent of the market. Conservatives will argue that it's government spending, it's the Bank of Canada, or anything else that diverts attention from the real problem. The genuine issue is the massive corporate profits made by turning what should be a market about people securing a family home into an asset class for profit generation.

This isn't a phenomenon that occurred by accident. If you delve into the history of real estate investment trusts (REITs), you'll find that they began their rapid ascent in 1996. Coincidentally, this was right after the Liberals canceled the national housing strategy. The trend has been growing ever since. It's myopic to focus solely on the last two years and the housing market fluctuations during this exceptional period. The trend of Canadians being pushed out of affordable homes started much earlier than that, and it's a pattern seen across both Liberal and Conservative governments.

These administrations have been lacking in supply-side solutions. Additionally, they've cultivated a tax culture that rewards companies for buying affordable buildings, ousting tenants, and then hiking rents. Through the tax code, if you're part of a REIT, you're exempted from paying corporate tax on your profits, as long as you distribute the income to individual investors. Normally, a company would first settle corporate income tax on its earnings and then distribute its dividends from the remaining amount.

Another way the housing market has been undermined is by both Liberal and Conservative governments not renewing operating grants linked to many affordable buildings, be it co-op housing or non-profit housing. Federal operating money made those units more than just affordable – they were rent-geared to income, which is the gold standard for housing. It ensures tenants don't end up paying an exorbitant portion of their earnings on rent. As these 40 or 50-year mortgages began to expire towards the end of the Harper government's term, the promise of not renewing these operating grants was made. While the Liberals ran on a commitment to sustain them, they backtracked.

Consequently, buildings across the country that had federal funding, ensuring they could offer affordable rents to tenants, were told by both Conservative and Liberal governments that there would be no funding renewal. This meant they either had to raise the rents or sell their buildings. This situation made them ripe targets for REITs, which had the financial means to outbid non-profit associations experienced in housing.

This is a long-brewing problem, and while the pandemic exacerbated the situation, attributing the crisis solely to pandemic-induced government spending is a mistake. The housing crisis has been building up for ages and has now reached a critical point. We must take actions to stabilize the market and salvage the affordable units we still have. Experts reveal that for every new affordable housing unit we establish in Canada today, we're losing 15. This rate is unsustainable. The decrease in supply, combined with the detrimental role of REITs and other corporate landlords, is at the crux of the issue.

We need proactive government intervention to address and resolve this problem, ensuring Canadians have access to affordable housing. This is why we're announcing specific measures today. Jenny has already mentioned imposing a moratorium on REITs and corporate landlords from purchasing affordable buildings. We've also discussed establishing a fund so that non-profit housing experts can acquire and manage these buildings appropriately. Another crucial step is eliminating the preferential tax treatment for REITs, which only makes them a more enticing investment option, drawing more capital into a system that's undermining our housing market.

We shouldn't be incentivizing investors to exploit a mechanism that makes housing less accessible for Canadians. Our package of solutions aims to conserve affordable units, create more of them, and stop rewarding major investors who profit by forcing Canadians out of homes they can afford, leaving them to fend for themselves.