Ricardo Tranjan

The Buy Ontario Act is a rebrand with little new to offer - CCPA On November 20, the government of Ontario announced  the Buy Ontario Act. This is a follow up to a 2022 policy—the Building Ontario Businesses Initiative Act—that favoured Ontarian suppliers within pu...

Governments should indeed be using their procurement powers to encourage local contracts. The new Buy Ontario Act falls short in important ways. By @noahfry.bsky.social #onpoli
www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

New from NHAs' blog: our analysis of Ontario's Bill 60.

Bill 60, as proposed, will make it easier & faster to evict tenants.

We explore 6 proposed changes, showing how they will erode tenants protections & further fuel Ontario's homelessness crisis 👇🧵
newhousingalternatives.ca/ontarios-bil...

Ontario Fall Economic Statement: No help on the way - CCPA Last May, CCPA’s detailed analysis of the Ontario budget argued that it failed to address years-long funding shortfalls, leaving the province vulnerable to the economic storm on the horizon.

The real message Ontario's fall economic statement delivered is that there is no help on the way for Ontario families and communities by @ricardotranjan.bsky.social
www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Post-election budget could plunge Canada into another federal election - CCPA With so much on the line, the newly elected federal government has tabled a budget that, in many ways, could pass as a Conservative budget.

#Budget2025 analysis from @policyalternatives.ca: Major military spending will come at a huge cost to vital public programs and services. Which parties will support the minority government on this one? By @davidmaccdn.bsky.social @hadrianmk.bsky.social www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Oil and gas trumps climate action in brutal federal budget The budget makes clear that fossil fuel production for export is a central pillar of this government’s economic strategy — and that it won’t let climate measures get in the way.

Oil and gas trumps climate action in brutal federal budget. By senior @policyalternatives.ca researcher @hadrianmk.bsky.social #budget2025 #cdnpoli #ClimateCrisis www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/04/o...

Ricardo Tranjan: Think Doug Ford has walked back his war on tenants? There’s more to come. Here’s how it should be fought. Last week, the Ontario government introduced Bill 60, Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act. It includes many troubling legislative changes, but popular outcry so far has focused on the direct attack

Bill 60 is a vicious, one-sided tenancy legislation. It will cause widespread suffering and loss of life. Anyone who stays neutral is complicit. In this @thestar.com article, I focus on why mayors should fight it.

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Mark Carney and Doug Ford keep serving Big Landlords ⋆ The Breach Economist Ricardo Tranjan joins Desmond Cole to discuss how Ford and Carney’s housing policies heavily favours corporate landlords

Doug Ford and Mark Carney are making big moves on housing — but tenant groups and housing experts are raising an alarm.

@ricardotranjan.bsky.social joins @desmondcole.bsky.social to discuss how the emerging policy heavily favours corporate landlords. breachmedia.ca/mark-carney-...

Budgets are meant to be good news docs. This one will downplay all that will be lost with 15% cuts in most depts. We've scoured dept docs to identify programs likely to be "sunset" and the 52 depts likely to use this strategy @policyalternatives.ca 🧵👇👇👇

Doug Ford government proposes to allow tenant evictions when leases are up in new bill Currently, tenants are protected from eviction unless there is a legal reason — such as unpaid rent or the landlord wants to move in — even after their lease expires.

www.thestar.com/real-estate/... “It’s a straightforward attack on tenant protections in Ontario,” said @ricardotranjan.bsky.social, political economist at the @policyalternatives.ca

I’m enormously proud of the fantastic work my colleagues at @policyalternatives.ca have done from coast to coast to coast—but we can’t do it without your support. Join us at policyalternatives.ca/solidarity

The rationale for Ontario’s Bill 60 does not hold up - CCPA Yesterday, the Ontario government introduced Bill 60, Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025, which contains many disconcerting, proposed changes to the Residential Tenancy Act.

When introducing Bill 60, the Ontario government said the bill would unlock tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of new units but the numbers don't add up by @ricardo_tranjan www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

“Throughout Canadian history, private developers and landlords took advantage of various crises to enrich themselves. The property-owning class’s impetus to exploit the universal need for shelter is a constant.” @ricardotranjan.bsky.social @policyalternatives.ca

Que peut Projet Montréal face à la crise du logement? – Pivot Le nouveau chef Luc Rabouin a le défi de donner plus de mordant aux politiques parfois insuffisantes héritées de l’administration Plante.

« Les gouvernements [doivent] reprendre l’initiative et avoir les moyens de construire plus de logements à l’écart du marché », a déclaré @ricardotranjan.bsky.social. @policyalternatives.ca pivot.quebec/2025/10/23/q...

Canada set a poverty reduction goal. We’re falling behind. - CCPA Canada vowed to end poverty by 2030, yet progress has stalled. The government can’t wait any longer to deliver real solutions.

Canada vowed to end #poverty by 2030, yet progress has stalled. The government can’t wait any longer to deliver real solutions. By Jasmine Ramze Rezaee and Leila Sarangi @policyalternatives.ca #cdnpoli www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Cuts will impact women and racialized public servants disproportionately, new analysis says An estimated 59 per cent of the workers cut will be women, according to a new analysis by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

“...[W]e can expect wider employment gaps, wider pay gaps and the erosion of access to critical employment benefits,” explain @policyalternatives.ca senior economist @davidmaccdn.bsky.social and senior researcher @kjscott.bsky.social #cdnpoli ottawacitizen.com/public-servi...

November 2 – Errol Black Chair Fundraising Brunch 2025 - CCPA Keynote Speaker Peggy Nash, CCPA Executive Director Sunday November 2,

Join the CCPA for the annual Errol Black Chair in Labour Issues Fundraising Brunch honouring The National Farmers Union in Manitoba. With keynote speaker, CCPA ED Peggy Nash. Nov.2 at 10 AM at Hotel Fort Garry in Winnipeg! www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Linda McQuaig: There’s much talk about building a stronger Canada, but silence about the one strategy that actually worked If we’re truly interested in bold ideas, Canada should free ourselves from the notion that the only way to build a country is to cater to corporate titans.

It was public--not private--enterprise that built this country: CNR, Ontario Hydro, the crown corporation that led to the Avro Arrow. Too bad we've forgotten. #cdnpoli #canlab
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is Canada’s leading progressive think tank. Let’s make a difference, together: Join us at policyalternatives.ca/Makeadifference

Ricardo Tranjan: Here comes the new minimum wage — with the same problem as the old one Doug Ford is choosing to keep workers poor when the minimum wage could be and needs to be much higher

The new $ 17.60-an-hour minimum wage is an arbitrary figure that could and needs to be much higher. Why is it not?

Because the Ontario government is making the political choice to keep minimum wage workers poor.

My latest @thestar.com

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

« C’est insuffisant » : Hausse du salaire minimum en Ontario Le salaire minimum passe de 17,20 $ à 17,60 $ ce mercredi. Cette augmentation signifie 832 $ de plus par année pour ceux qui travaillent 40 heures par semaine.

Selon le chercheur principal au @policyalternatives.ca, @ricardotranjan.bsky.social, « le montant [de l'augmentation du salaire minimum] n’est ancré sur aucune mesure concrète de l’économie. Ce n’est pas axé sur le coût de la vie en Ontario ».
ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/219...

Over two thirds of Canadians live in suburbs. And when the left neglects organizing in those suburbs, we give up on reversing the right-wing tide across Canada.

Aniket Kali and I talked to the organizers in the GTA who are working to turn the tide:

Are REITs good for housing? CMHC says we need more, raising concerns among some housing experts Critics say the national housing agency has drifted from its affordability mandate, while CMHC says it wants to increase housing supply while protecting tenants.

Not engaging with the “most robust” and “most relevant” statistical analysis in Canada in recent years [on rent control] seems “disingenuous,” said senior @policyalternatives.ca economist and housing researcher @ricardotranjan.bsky.social #cdnpoli www.thestar.com/real-estate/...

Ontario’s striking college support workers are fighting to save a key part of the economy - CCPA As 10,000 Ontario college support workers take to the picket line in their quest for job security, they’re also fighting for a better college system for the students they support.

College workers play a crucial role in the education & training of young people.

At a time youth unemployment is at a historical high, this strike has broad economic implications for Ontario.

@CCPA_Ont's latest analysis #onted #onpoli #saveourcolleges

www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Canada’s federal election in April saw Conservatives take over the suburbs. Here, writer and political economist @ricardotranjan.bsky.social considers what it will take for progressives to find their feet again: thewalrus.ca/conservatives-pa...

Ricardo Tranjan: As Ford bickers with trustees over bubble gum, our chronically underfunded schools are failing a growing number of students Whatever is happening with administrative expenses can neither explain nor solve the serious challenges schools are facing.

As Doug Ford bickers with #OntEd school board trustees over bubble gum, the govt's chronic underfunding of our schools is failing a growing number of students, says @policyalternatives.ca researcher @ricardotranjan.bsky.social. #OnPoli

www.thestar.com/opinion/as-f...

Happy Labour Day! Jon Milton writes about how the Canadian government is addicted to strikebreaking. From the 1940s to today, modern Canadian labour relations has always included government strikebreaking—and workers defying those orders. www.policyalternatives.ca/.../a-brief-...

Ricardo Tranjan: Income inequality reached a new high. Here’s why Ottawa’s DOGE-style cuts will only make it worse The prime minister has gone from Captain Canada to Captain Cuts.

"The gap between the haves and have-nots is growing. Instead of using its taxing and spending powers to reverse this trend, the federal government is planning to indiscriminately cut government programs..." By @ricardotranjan.bsky.social #cdnpoli #inequality www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Ricardo Tranjan: Income inequality reached a new high. Here’s why Ottawa’s DOGE-style cuts will only make it worse The prime minister has gone from Captain Canada to Captain Cuts.

“The prime minister has gone from Captain Canada to Captain Cuts. And the damage will be deeply felt.” @ricardotranjan.bsky.social in today’s Star.

Ricardo Tranjan: The law allows landlords to make the elderly homeless. Whose dreams of the future is government helping? In Quebec, New York and Germany, laws protecting elderly renters from eviction are robust. Why doesn’t Ontario?

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont... ‘Selling dreams of the future while failing to act now is not just cynical but despicable when it concerns the senior population.’ @ricardotranjan.bsky.social @policyalternatives.ca

Join me and @neweconomics.bsky.social comrades, this Thursday, 11:00 am (ET), for a discussion on how to conduct research *for* rather than *about* tenant movements