Powerful support for more employee ownership in Canada from a very credible source: @BMO is a top lender to majority employee-owned companies in the US.
Opinion: Canada needs policies that make it easier for business owners to sell to their employees financialpost.com/news/economy/o… As BMO's Christine Cooper writes here, public policy in the US is highly supportive of employee ownership trusts, where all employees receive shares in their company at no cost. The results are proven and well documented.

Everyone should do their part to #StandWithUkraine️. That's why so many current and former @McKinsey and @BCG employees are speaking out as other consultancies leave Russia. In contrast, McK and BCG are *pretending* to leave, without actually leaving. A short thread of shame.

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1500873502630551562

On March 3, both McK and BCG CEOs sent out letters to their former employees about severing ties with Russia. However, both letters said they would complete existing engagements with non-state-owned firms. This is a really important distinction and different from @Accenture et al

It's not a fun or happy topic, but Provincial political leaders and small business advocacy organizations should be talking about an easier path to bankruptcy as a way to support small business in Canada. #onpoli #cdnpoli 1/ thestar.com/opinion/contri… Many political leaders, and organizations like @CFIB, @CdnChamberofCom and @RetailCouncil have done great (and tireless) work over the past 20 months keeping businesses afloat amidst rotating shutdowns to protect public health. But for many no amount will help them survive. 2/

If @LongosMarkets was an American grocery chain, there's a good chance it would now be owned by its employees. In Canada, it sold to @sobeys.

My op-ed about why the Cdn gov't embracing employee ownership is a big deal.
#cdnpoli (1/12)
@WinnipegNews winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analys… @LongosMarkets is a great family-owned grocer, and their customers love it. So why did the Longo family sell out to one of the big three conglomerates?
Empire (Sobeys), Loblaw and Metro own 75% of the Canadian grocery market.
(2/12)
restobiz.ca/longos-ranks-a…

#SaveMEC is about more than saving a co-op. It’s about preventing another Canadian icon from suffering the same fate as Tim Horton’s: a slow grinding decline under ownership that doesn’t care. So, let’s look at the unimpressive and troubling potential new management of MEC. Short version: @MEC to be run by three middle-aged white men: a mediocre-at-best American investor, an out-of-work grocery CEO and a COO who might never have managed a store and runs a guns-and-testosterone shoe brand. This should go well!

1/ Today we begin phase 3 in Ontario, or, as I like to call it "killing ourselves to pay the rent." 2/ As has been well documented, we know from other places that opening up bars lead to more cases and more deaths. So, people will die. Why are we killing them? To keep these businesses from going under. And what would drive them under? Rent. This is all about rent.

When I suggest an evictions ban, people say "why do we need one? Landlords would be stupid not to take 75% over zero!" That's a very wrong take.But when Doug Ford, business owner, says THE SAME THING?🤦‍♂️This article and thread explain why they're wrong.1/11
macleans.ca/opinion/should… For context, the CECRA rent relief program launches today. Landlords can apply to get 50% of rent paid by the government with only 25% paid by small businesses hit by the pandemic. 75% total. This is a HUGE deal. It could save thousands of small businesses. But it probably won't.

Doug Ford is playing a very dangerous game with landlords right now, and it will probably hurt a lot of small businesses. By threatening them, he's implying that he will impose a moratorium on evictions if they done cooperate. This is a terrible strategy. (1/7) #onpoli Last Friday he pleaded with them to have a heart, and called them vicious. Yesterday he said he'd go after them like they wouldn't believe. What could this mean other than forcing OCECRA rent relief or a moratorium on evictions? (2/ 7)

A lot of people are seeing these lockouts, and thinking "stupid landlords - who are they going to rent to now?" This is a bad and dangerous take as it distracts from the fact that @fordnation is choosing to allow this to happen. Could be easily stopped.
blogto.com/eat_drink/2020… This is a simple policy issue. Ban evictions temporarily, like the UK, Australia, France, Italy, Denmark and a few US states like NY, and none of this would be happening. Every Canadian province other than NB continues to favour landlords over businesses. Why? #onpoli #cdnpoli

IMPORTANT SURVEY ALERT. There is big trouble for Canada's rent relief program. In our survey, only 19% say their landlord is likely to sign up for it. The provinces need to declare a moratorium on commercial evictions to save #CECRA. #SaveSmallBusiness This landlord response is a tragedy, since small businesses are saying the rent subsidy is BY FAR the most important program that has been rolled out to date. 67% said #CECRA was most important, vs. 24% for the #CEBA loan and only 9% for the #CEWS wage subsidy.

Federal and Provincial governments: can you please clarify that you DID NOT issue a moratorium on evictions in your announcements on rent yesterday? People believe you did, and this is very dangerous. Must fix ASAP. @CFIB @loveretail @mary_ng @fordnation @Bill_Morneau #CECRA The #CECRA approach calls for agreements between landlords and tenants to prevent evictions FOR TENANTS WITH CECRA AGREEMENTS ONLY. Nothing whatsoever for anyone else. Tenants are very confused and think they have protection that they do not.

Whenever I say we need a moratorium on commercial evictions, I hear "why would the landlord want to evict? Who are they going to rent to?" This thread and this blog explains why this logical-sounding argument doesn't make sense in the real world. 1/10 link.medium.com/X9T6MLkYT5 Imagine negotiating for a higher salary at work. But, if you don't like the result and want to leave, instead of finding a new job you need to find a new career, your boss gets your furniture and you pay the recruiting fees to replace you. That's what small biz owners face. 2/10

We don't have to let local community businesses fail - there are good options if only the Federal government would take the lead. Our coalition has proposed a common sense national rent abatement strategy. Here's how it would work:
(1/14) #covid19Canada

cbc.ca/news/business/… Landlords would waive the first $10K of rent for business most affected by social distancing (restaurants, day cares, barbershops, etc) for three months. Businesses with less than $5M in revenue, so covering pretty much every local community business. (2/14) #savesmallbusiness

Bill Morneau said the #CEBA loan was for "the local restaurants, the corner coffee shops, the small travel agencies, the salons and barbershops ... the very backbone of Canada's economy."

Related story: Most barbershops won't even qualify for the loan created for them.

THREAD 1 For reasons no one can explain, businesses require at least $50K in payroll to qualify for the loan. Unless there's a secret reason for this, it displays a shocking misunderstanding about how local small business works. 2/7 #CEBA #covid19Canada

I was a retailer in a plaza for five years and got to know the other owners. Half of them would not have been able or willing to take on debt to pay the rent. They would have lost everything. I'm trying to speak for them now. 1/5
theglobeandmail.com/business/comme… The other half would have pissed as hell. "So, you're telling me I have to close due to a public health emergency, but you're willing to give me a loan to pay the landlord? Are you kidding me?" Many swear words deleted from that quote. I'm trying to speak for them too.2/5

I am a landlord in Toronto with three apartments. I will be waiving rent for the month of April. I know that most landlords can't afford to do this but, for those that can, please do. #waiveaprilrent If you can’t afford to waive rent entirely, any reduction will matter. Please consider lowering rent as much as you can afford for the month of April. We are all in this together. #waiveaprilrent

This post I wrote yesterday has been viewed about 15K times and shared over 500. (Normal for me is my mom and 10 others) It's not because the ideas in it are that good, it's because people are facing economic collapse and don't see any help on the way. 1

medium.com/p/9-things-can… People want to do the right thing and flattening the curve is real and critical. Social distancing is a must. But we need to appreciate the nature of the economic crisis it will create. We are effectively shutting down a big part of the economy. 2/15

Two US-based 50M workertech funds have started in the past year. A pittance. Canada should leverage the Future Skills Centre in partnership with Canadian VC to support worker-focused innovation in Canada. Let's lead on this for the good of future workers. link.medium.com/qZPxfXiSB1 Links to US funds: globenewswire.com/news-release/2…

We can use AI to help workers thrive in the #FutureofWork. But it will take an international effort to make it happen, and we need to start now.

The case for a global employment and training platform. My report for @ppforumca. #canadanext ppforum.ca/publications/i… We are not prepared for the #FutureOfWork. But we could be. Here's how technology can be built in the interest of workers and create resilience instead of precarity.

My (shorter) contribution to @ppforumca's #canadanext series.

policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/janu…