Gillian Petit

a little girl wearing sunglasses and a blue dress is dancing in a room . ALT: a little girl wearing sunglasses and a blue dress is dancing in a room .

Woo hoo! Paper acceptance day! Mine and @lindsaytedds.bsky.social paper "Income and Social Supports: An Inclusive Systems-Based Approach to Cash Transfer Program Design" will be published in an upcoming volume of Canadian Public Admin.

We need at minimum: an increase in the minimum wage of at least 25% (to keep up with inflation since 2018), no more roll backs of the CDB, and an increase in social assistance benefits to at least stop the bleeding. We need stronger commitments to reducing poverty and food insecurity.

Overall, food bank usage continues to increase in AB. In a province that prides itself on being a "wealthy" province, this should simply not be acceptable. It's going to take more than charity to fix this.

2025 Mid-Year Rental Market Update Discover how increased supply, shifting affordability and evolving vacancy rates are shaping Canada's rental market in 2025.

Most AB Food Bank users were renters (70.5%). While the asking price for rentals has started to cool in Calgary, the asking price of a rental increased faster in large AB cities in 2023-2024 compared to other large cities in Canada. www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/observer/202...

The New Alberta Disability Assistance Program: Will It Deliver on Its Promises? In January 2025, the Alberta UCP’s announced plans for a new Alberta Disability Assistance program (ADAP).

This speaks to the declining real minimum wage in AB: AB has a minimum wage of $15/hour - the lowest in Canada and unchanged since 2018. It also speaks to how inadequate AB's income assistance benefits are - and AB is set to lower them (see: gillianpetit.substack.com/p/the-new-al...)

Most AB food bank users were single adults (37.6%) but an alarming amount were also two parent families (31.7%). The largest amount of food bank users had employment income as their main source of income (30.8%). Social assistance clients made up 23.6% of food bank visits.

In March 2025, just over 4% of AB's population visited a food bank. Visits to food banks in AB increased by 134% since 2019 - the largest increase across all provinces.

Hunger Count 2025 is out. It paints a harrowing picture of food bank use and food insecurity. Food bank visits have gone up by 5.2% since 2024 and 99.4% since 2019. Here are some interesting statisitcs for AB: #abpoli #CDNpoli @foodbankscanada.bsky.social

content.foodbankscanada.ca/wordpress/20...

hahaha. I just watched this this week (the teacher's strike just keeps on giving). It was....something. My kids really wanted to know why the zombies hair colour kept changing. I *heart* the easy questions.

ok #abpoli hive mind - has there been a recent change to the Continuing Care Act? Last week we were working on getting my dad on a list for a continuing care home. This week AHS has said we can't put him on a list b/c "new legislation". What are they talking about? @thebreakdownab.bsky.social #ableg

The "it's 1995" panic is in full swing. I wrote my first letter to the editor circa 1994 agreeing that there was a public finance problem, but advising not to make cutting subsistence to poor people the solution.

After 1995, draconian social assistance cuts ensued.

By 2003, the data were in.

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I'm confused about why they sent this email. Not only is the email confusing but it seems that myself and my family are in phase 2 and can't get our shots until Oct. 20th anyways. I assume they'll turn us away if I book before then...

I don't understand politicians...we tried that in AB. It's been linked to increased road fatalities. So they're bringing back photo radar in in some high-risk locations (want a bet it's more than "some" soon?). Can't he just read about our AB fiascos and better allocate money? Sigh.

In order to test public priorities, our survey forced a choice: either to maintain government funding for child care centres or eliminate this funding in favour of giving all parents a break on their taxes. Guess what we found?
www.environicsinstitute.org/projects/pro...

Help shape the future of automatic tax filing in Canada The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is working to reduce tax filing barriers for individuals. Many individuals with a lower income are still missing out on valuable benefit and credit payments because they are not filing an annual tax return. Automatic tax filing is one way the CRA can effectively support individuals with a lower income in filing their taxes. The CRA has significantly expanded the reach of its automatic tax filing services since 2023 by increasing access to its SimpleFile services, including almost tripling the number of individuals invited to use SimpleFile by Phone during the tax filing season. Now, the CRA is seeking feedback to help shape the future of automatic tax filing in Canada. How to participate Individuals, community organizations, tax preparers, tax software professionals, and academics are invited to participate in the CRA’s automatic tax filing questionnaire by October 9th. Participants can share their views on: • the CRA’s current efforts to reduce filing barriers for individuals with a lower income • opportunities to expand automatic tax filing tools and services, as well as what the CRA needs to consider when expanding tools and services How the CRA will use your feedback Your feedback will help the CRA better understand opportunities and considerations related to its SimpleFile services in Canada. It will also contribute to the creation, or expansion, of services to help individuals file their taxes and get the payments they’re entitled to. For more information on the CRA’s consultation activities, please go to Automatic tax filing consultation or send an email to engagementg@cra-arc.gc.ca.

Hey folks please take a look at this and consider filing it out, because if you don't you can be sure the tax software lobby industry is! The CRAis starting to consult on automatic tax filing in Canada. Let's get this done!

cra-arc-survey-sondage.ca/f/s.aspx?s=d...

This is awful. Shame on them! Note that the engagement period for ADAP is still open. The survey is here: your.alberta.ca/adap/surveys... Tell them how disgusting this is. #abpoli #abgov

The New Alberta Disability Assistance Program: Will It Deliver on Its Promises? In January 2025, the Alberta UCP’s announced plans for a new Alberta Disability Assistance program (ADAP).

The @albertaucp.bsky.social released the Discussion Guide for the proposed ADAP program this week. I wrote a couple thoughts about it. #abpoli @albertandp.ca

gillianpetit.substack.com/p/the-new-al...

If you would like to engage with this issue, please fill out the survey (your.alberta.ca/adap/surveys...) and/or submit a written submission to adapengagement@gov.ab.ca. This is a Discussion Guide only and is not yet set in stone. Engagement is open!

due to the decreased earnings exemption and decline in the base benefit level, ADAP clients with earned income less than about $2,100/month will be financially worse off.

But maybe they really meant that ADAP will have lower claw back rates. I checked those too. I had to make some assumptions based on numbers in the Discussion Guide as the claw back rate was not explicitly stated. I found that over some employment income ranges, claw back rates will be lower but....

Another claim of ADAP is that it will have higher earnings exemptions. The Discussion Guide proposes that earnings exemption be decreased from $1,072/month to $350/month. Wrong way!

One of the claims of ADAP is that it will "empower" Albertans with disabilities. However, the Discussion Guide proposes transferring all AISH clients to ADAP whether they would choose it or not. To be re-assigned to AISH, clients will have to prove that they cannot work. This is not empowerment.

The New Alberta Disability Assistance Program: Will It Deliver on Its Promises? In January 2025, the Alberta UCP’s announced plans for a new Alberta Disability Assistance program (ADAP).

The @albertaucp.bsky.social released the Discussion Guide for the proposed ADAP program this week. I wrote a couple thoughts about it. #abpoli @albertandp.ca

gillianpetit.substack.com/p/the-new-al...

A Janitor Died on the Job at SFU. Co-workers Want Change | The Tyee The workers say their employer, union and Simon Fraser University let them down.

The Tyee spoke to seven of Kulbir Kaila’s co-workers, who all say they believe an excessive workload, strenuous working conditions and a lack of support for existing health conditions contributed to her death.

Good news! Now lets keep it this way! And maybe beat Denmark while we're at it (too ambitious? 😅)

Non-Permanent Residents and their impact on GDP per capita | Report New research by economist and SCP Fellow Gillian Petit estimates what Canada’s GDP per capita would have been over the past decade if Canada had kept our temporary resident numbers stable. She also es...

Out today in collaboration with @scpartners.bsky.social: a look at GDP per capita and how temporary residents affect this measure for Canada. Bottom line: a rapid increase in NPRs has decreased GDP per capita but this doesn't mean our economy shrunk

socialcapitalpartners.ca/non-permanen...

GDP per capita is a deeply flawed measurement for evaluating rich countries and is easily influenced by factors that have zilch to do with economic well-being.

How's 🍁economy? New research shows it's about the same as Germany, the UK and Aus.

Read more at: tinyurl.com/4bjdyccb

It’s been a long few days. Starting Saturday morning, I ran 26 loops of the Grassroots Backyard = 174.46km. This was a PB for me, I was the last woman standing, and I set a course record for women. I couldn’t have done it without my amazing crew and support from my local park runners.

a woman in a pink power ranger costume is walking down a street ALT: a woman in a pink power ranger costume is walking down a street

Also let me know if you want to go for coffee or...better yet...a run! I may have some sweet looking running routes mapped out