Archive for the ‘Governance Policy Context’ Category
Norway using oil money wisely
May 09 2012
The paradox is that Norway does not use the benefits of its oil reserves to fund the costs of government and of social programs, including education… The Norwegian government, with citizen support, has decided to fund its social programs with high levels of taxation. At the same time, as McQuaig indicates, Norway manages “to compete effectively in the global economy.” Norway, using proportional representation and electing large numbers of women, has good forward-looking government. Canada does not. Norwegian students and citizens benefit, Canadians do not.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Taxing Times
May 1, 2012
$38 billion – That’s how much less Canadians now pay in individual income tax compared to 2000… $19 billion – That’s how much less Canadians pay now in sales taxes compared to 2000. Since the Harper government cut the GST by two points in 2007, the average annual revenue loss to the treasury is about $12 billion… $18 billion – That’s how much less corporations pay now in Canadian taxes compared to 2000… 49.5% – Ontario’s marginal tax rate once the new tax hike on the highest income earners kicks in. In the 1950s, the ’60s and early ’70s the marginal tax rate (including federal and provincial) for this income range was 80 per cent.
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A New Device to Correct Political Spin
April 2, 2012
In February, Statistics Canada made access to most of its data free… The change now makes it possible for anyone to fact-check many political claims. To demonstrate how easy it is to access and use this free data, a good start is to watch the five minute CANSIM tutorial.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, standard of living
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A beginners guide to conservative philosophy
Mar 15, 2012
For the conservative, society is the word we apply to aggregated individuals… Conservatives want to remove limitations on free, responsible and productive citizens. To achieve this end… There must be stability and order, so that the individual is protected from the harmful actions of others; this calls forth the rule of law. The rule of law, set forth and enforced by the state, must be as extensive as is necessary for order, and as limited as necessary for responsible individual freedom… Conservatives, in other words, have a rather pessimistic view of human nature and the potential of human beings to evolve.
Tags: crime prevention, economy, featured, ideology, poverty, tax
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Ontario staggers under burden of fiscal federalism
Mar 06 2012
in 2009-10, Ontario, with 39 per cent of the Canadian population, contributed 39 per cent to federal revenues, but benefited from only 34 per cent of federal spending — a gap worth about $12.3 billion or 2.1 per cent of Ontario’s GDP. The report concludes that this — among other factors — demonstrates the “perverse structure of Canadian fiscal federalism.”… The operation of fiscal federalism and federal spending decisions that take money out of Ontario at a time when its fiscal capacity is below average is indeed “perverse” and should offend Canadians’ sense of fairness.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
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‘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
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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
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Canada’s Charter of Rights: a global model
Feb. 10, 2012
As Canada was founded on compromise and dialogue, so are those qualities woven into its rights charter. And so it offers a structure for working through the competing interests found in any sophisticated, multicultural nation… The structure for balancing opposed interests is found in three key sections. Section 1 sets out that rights are not absolute; governments may limit them, as long as they have evidence to justify those limits… Section 15, the equality-rights section, is open-ended, and new groups, such as gays and lesbians, have been brought under its umbrella by the Supreme Court…
Tags: disabilities, featured, multiculturalism, rights, standard of living, women, youth
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Census Canada 2011 infographic: How the new population stats break down by province and city
Feb 9, 2012
There are now 33.5 million people living in Canada, and our population is growing faster than that of any other G8 nation, results of the 2011 census released on Wednesday show. Click through the tabs to see figures for the population overall and breakdowns for the provinces, territories and urban centres.
Tags: economy, immigration
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Stephen Harper’s census and his vision for Canada
Feb. 05, 2012
Harper said Canada’s aging population threatens our cherished social programs. He thrust obscure stats such as the old-age-dependency ratio to centre stage, promised to overhaul our immigration system and strongly hinted at raising the age of eligibility for old-age security. These are transformative changes… Atlantic Canada is aging and Ontario’s share of immigration is tumbling. A failure to deal with either of those could have major economic consequences… his vision demanded that every province be treated the same. The danger of that philosophy is it could make them more different than ever.
Tags: economy, ideology, immigration, standard of living
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