Deb Matthews slashes fees for OHIP services to save $338 million
May 07 2012
Health Minister Deb Matthews announced Monday there would be 37 changes to the OHIP fee schedule, targeting hundreds of services provided by cardiologists, radiologists and ophthalmologists. The doctors claim this will mean longer waits in emergency wards and for test results — and warn that patients could expect a harder time finding a family doctor or a specialist because of fewer physicians. “Our doctors are the best paid in Canada,” said Matthews… “Instead of another raise for doctors, we need a real wage freeze so we can invest in more home care,”
Tags: budget, Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
NDP’s Horwath wants more from McGuinty before backing budget
April 21, 2012
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says the Liberals’ surprise $275 million boost for child care and disabled benefits is “a very positive sign” on the eve of Tuesday’s key budget vote… Horwath said a sticking point remains the Liberals’ opposition to a wealth surtax on people making more than $500,000 a year… The levy is also hugely popular with Liberal MPPs, but McGuinty himself is wary of the scheme.
Tags: budget, disabilities, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
‘Secret’ G20 law to be scrapped
Feb 22 2012
The Liberals are replacing the archaic “secret law” police used to place hundreds of people under arrest during the G20 summit in 2010. The Public Works Protection Act has been shelved in favour of a new bill that would apply only to securing power plants and courthouses, said Community Safety Minister Madeleine Meilleur. The legislation, introduced Wednesday, was created out of recommendations of former chief justice Roy McMurtry in the wake of the G20 fiasco. It is far narrower in scope than the old law.
Tags: crime prevention, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Drummond Report: Higher hydro bills, more user fees urged in sweeping report
Feb. 15, 2012
Ontarians could face higher hydro bills, bigger school classes, fewer hospitals, more expensive tuition and user fees to protect the future of provincial public services… “Reform must be pervasive and speedy. The government will need to implement all the reforms we recommend … to restrain the growth of program spending enough to achieve balance by 2017-18,”
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Dwight Duncan demands Ottawa release censored report showing Ontario is shortchanged by equalization
Jan 26 2012
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan is demanding Ottawa release a classified federal report that reveals Ontario gets shortchanged by the national equalization wealth-sharing scheme… “The report makes it increasingly clear that because of the policies of the government of Canada, Ontario families are subsidizing programs and services in other parts of Canada that Ontarians themselves do not enjoy”… “It’s time that the biases against Ontario be removed and that we begin to look at this thing realistically.”
Tags: budget, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
More can be done to combat ‘wage theft,’ labour minister admits
May 12 2011
… a new report that found one-third of low-income workers had their wages withheld or stolen by employers… a Workers’ Action Centre report… concluded that “the lack of protection in Ontario workplaces leaves many of the workers … with little hope of getting the wages they’re owed, resulting in significant economic hardship.”… DiNovo urged the government to follow recommendations such as targeting “industries like cleaning, hospitality, retail and construction, where newcomers to our province have a long, long history of substandard employment practices.”
Tags: crime prevention, economy, immigration, rights
Posted in Employment Delivery System | No Comments »
McGuinty government slashes redundant agencies
Mar 15 2011
The Liberals are scrapping more than a dozen redundant agencies in the wake of a sweeping report urging better governance of provincial organizations… referring to the 258 agencies, boards, commissions, councils, authorities, foundations and trusts overseen by Queen’s Park… Gone are the Toronto Area Transit Operating Agency, the Social Assistance Review Board… {Their] elimination… will save only $200,000 a year. The government will, however, reap $4.2 million from the stadium agency’s bank account for provincial coffers, and any additional assets will be sold off.
Tags: budget, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Delivery System | 2 Comments »
Union ads attack McGuinty, Hudak for backing tax cuts
Jan 19 2011
OPSEU president Warren Thomas said the union spent $100,000 on the ads because members “want corporate tax cuts to be part of the election campaign. “If it gets people’s attention and gets people thinking and talking about it, that is a good thing,” said Thomas “Humour always paves the way.” The website features a running tally of hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on corporate tax cuts and boasts a shop for gear such as emblazoned boxer shorts, pet bowls, baby jumpers, mugs and T-shirts.
Tags: budget, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
Ombudsman charges G20 secret law was ‘illegal’
Dec. 7, 2010
It was “illegal” and “likely unconstitutional” for Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government to pass a secret regulation that police used to detain people near Toronto’s G20 summit of world leaders last summer, says Ombudsman Andre Marin. In a scorching 125-page report entitled Caught in the Act, Marin said the measure “should never have been enacted” and “was almost certainly beyond the authority of the government to enact.”
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Governor General urges Ontario to act on adoption and infertility
Dec 02 2010
In 2008, the McGuinty Liberals asked Johnston to head the Expert Panel on Infertility and Adoption, as part of an election promise. The panel’s August 2009 report “Raising Expectations” recommended Ontario become the best jurisdiction in the world in which to have a family, the Governor General said. To do that, the report called for an overhaul of the province’s adoption bureaucracy, which currently allows thousands of Crown wards to languish in foster care while several thousand families wait years to adopt.
Tags: child care, youth
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
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