Poverty in Canada.
Poverty is a reality in Canada today. Despite having one of the highest
standards of living among all the developed nations, and despite being voted numerous times in recent years by the United Nations as the best country in the world in which to live, experts agree that poverty is prevalent in Canada today. Unfortunately, that is more or less where the agreement ends. Exactly how prevalent and how serious a problem poverty is in Canada is an open question that has been hotly debated for the last 10 years.
There have been two times in the past 300 years when economic structural changes have occurred in the world that have been so massive and so far-reaching, that the impact on societies has been nothing short of monumental.
The first time was in the Industrial Revolution which began in the early 1700s and caused massive societal transformations, especially in the western world, changing life from agrarian-based societies to industrial-based societies. The second time was in the early 1980s with the beginning of the "Information Revolution." Today, a rapid, world-wide, economic transformation is taking place that is changing our societies from industrial-based societies to information-based societies, the 3rd wave.
These changes are part of a greater phenomenon called "globalization" . The improvement in technology lead to a desire to make trades with other countries, and therefore allowing foreign companies to sell in Canada and thereby compete with Canadian companies, and vice versa ("Laisser faire, laisser passer" - Adam Smith).This increased competition lead to ever greater pressures on Canadian companies to reduce their costs of producing goods. Companies closed down and went looking in third world countries because labour is cheaper. At the same time, technology was replacing human labour; employees lost their jobs, being replaced by machines that could do the job faster and more efficiently. This eliminated the manufacturing, low-to-medium skills,
standards of living among all the developed nations, and despite being voted numerous times in recent years by the United Nations as the best country in the world in which to live, experts agree that poverty is prevalent in Canada today. Unfortunately, that is more or less where the agreement ends. Exactly how prevalent and how serious a problem poverty is in Canada is an open question that has been hotly debated for the last 10 years.
There have been two times in the past 300 years when economic structural changes have occurred in the world that have been so massive and so far-reaching, that the impact on societies has been nothing short of monumental.
The first time was in the Industrial Revolution which began in the early 1700s and caused massive societal transformations, especially in the western world, changing life from agrarian-based societies to industrial-based societies. The second time was in the early 1980s with the beginning of the "Information Revolution." Today, a rapid, world-wide, economic transformation is taking place that is changing our societies from industrial-based societies to information-based societies, the 3rd wave.
These changes are part of a greater phenomenon called "globalization" . The improvement in technology lead to a desire to make trades with other countries, and therefore allowing foreign companies to sell in Canada and thereby compete with Canadian companies, and vice versa ("Laisser faire, laisser passer" - Adam Smith).This increased competition lead to ever greater pressures on Canadian companies to reduce their costs of producing goods. Companies closed down and went looking in third world countries because labour is cheaper. At the same time, technology was replacing human labour; employees lost their jobs, being replaced by machines that could do the job faster and more efficiently. This eliminated the manufacturing, low-to-medium skills,