Our Times Tally, Volume 34 – June 2016

● Estimated number of homeless people in Vancouver: 1,847
● Number of housing units in Vancouver that sit empty: 10,800
● Percentage of workers in Ontario who were making the minimum wage in 1997: 2.5
● Percentage today: 12
● Amount of gigabytes of data leaked through WikiLeaks in 2010: 1.7
● Amount of gigabytes of data leaked through the Panama Papers this year: 2,600
● Number of Canadians whose tax avoidance activities are identified in the Panama Papers: 350
● Estimated Canadian tax revenue lost to tax shelters each year: $6.9 billion
● Rank of Switzerland in the global “Financial Secrecy Index”: 1
● Rank of Canada as being the easiest country in the world to create and incorporate a shell company: 3
● Estimated amount of wealth held in tax shelters worldwide: $26.5 trillion
● Estimated annual tax revenue that could be raised by closing tax shelters: $190 billion
● Annual cost of eradicating extreme poverty worldwide: $60 billion
● Year in which a Canadian government report first recommended a ban on asbestos: 1984
● Year in which the European Commission first banned most forms of asbestos: 1991
● Chance that a death in a Canadian workplace results from a disease caused by exposure to asbestos: 1 in 3
● Number of domestic workers around the world: 53 million
● Chance that a live-in domestic worker in the United States is paid less than the minimum wage: 2 in 3
● Percentage of U.S. domestic workers who receive employer-provided health insurance: 4
● Percentage who admit not objecting to poor working conditions out of fear of violence from their employer: 42
● Chance that a Canadian citizen pays more than $500 a year on prescriptions: 1 in 5
● Percentage of Canadians who believe that everyone should have access to necessary prescription medicine: 88
● Number of Syrian refugees currently in Canada: 27,850
● Number of Syrian refugees currently in Germany: 484,000
● Total number of refugees around the world who are Syrian: 3.9 million
● Total number who are Palestinian: 5.1 million
● Estimated number of jobs that would be created by the construction of the Energy East Pipeline: 9,246
● Number of new jobs that were created in the solar industry in Canada last year: 12,000
● Percentage of Canadians currently living with a physical disability or mobility challenge: 23
● Percentage that a majority of Canadians believe are living with a physical disability or mobility challenge: 4
● Chance that a black youth is more likely to be stopped and questioned by police in Montreal than a white youth: 4 to 1
● Number of U.S. high school sports teams who currently use the term “Redskins” as their name and mascot: 62
● Percentage of Canadian workers who report experiencing bullying on a regular basis: 40
● Percentage of Canadian middle school and high school students who do: 33
● Chance that a victim of workplace bullying will never report it to their employer: 2 in 5
● Average number of lawsuits filed against Wal-Mart each day: 17
● Number of Wal-Mart workers who won a recent lawsuit for having to work during breaks over a ten year period: 187,000
● Number of Wal-Mart stores scheduled to close in the United States this year: 154
● Percentage of Americans who would consider voting for Donald Trump as President: 39
● Percentage who would consider voting for actor George Clooney: 57
● Rank of “socialism” as the most searched-for term on Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary in 2015: 1

Our Times Tally is written by union communications and media consultant Sean Cain (www.labourmedia.org).

SOURCES: 1,847 – City of Vancouver (Homeless Count, May 2016); 10,800 – Vancouver Housing Initiative; 2.5, 12 – Statistics Canada (Labour Force Survey, 2015); 1.7, 2,600 – The Guardian (April 2016); 350 – MacLean’s Magazine (April 2016); $6.9 billion – Toronto Star (April 2016); 1 – Tax Justice Network; 3 – Griffith University (Shell Games, 2014); $26.5 trillion, $190 billion, $60 billion – Oxfam International; 1984 – Canadian Labour Congress; 1991 – European Commission (Community Research and Development Information Service); 1 in 3 – Canadian Labour Congress; 53 million – International Labour Organization; 2 in 3, 4, 42 – National Domestic Workers Alliance (The Invisible and Unregulated World of Domestic Work); 1 in 5, 88 – Angus Reid Poll (May 2016); 27,850 – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada; 484,000 – Die Welt newspaper; 3.9 million, 5.1 million – United Nations Refugee Agency (Figures at a Glance); 9,246 – TransCanada corporation; 12,000 – Greenpeace Canada; 23, 4 – Angus Reid Poll (December 2015); 4 to 1 – Service de police de la ville de Montreal (2010); 62 – Capital News Service; 40 – Jacqueline Power (University of Windsor Odette School of Business); 33 – International Journal of Public Health; 2 in 5 (Zogby Research); 17 – Forbes Magazine; 187,000 – Pennsylvania Supreme Court (April 2016); 154 – USA Today (January 16, 2016); 39 – Washington Post/ABC News Poll; 57 – Harris Poll; 1 – The Guardian (December 16, 2015).