As Ontario pumps millions into private health care, public health will continue to suffer
Private facilities seem like a quick fix, but it leaves the public system with fewer health-care workers, which only further exacerbates public wait times. It’s a domino effect that’s difficult to stop. But stop it must. Longer-term strategies are needed. Ontario’s decision to fund primary care teams is a major step in the right direction, but simultaneously funding private facilities will only further erode access to public ones. It’s a downward spiral that Ontario continues to actively fund… Half a billion dollars spent on private health facilities leaves half a billion dollars less to pay for public ones.
Child & Family
Carney’s new nation-building plan lacks a vision for our social, educational and health needs
We all need good work, housing, education, health care, child care, clean water, safe food and environmental protection. These must be central to our idea of a transformed Canada. All require immediate government attention. They can’t be relegated to the background, in deference to corporate demands for a wide-open economy where regulations and taxes don’t hold things back. Our economic rethinking must extend to developing new guardrails on business entry into the care economy.
The push for a national caregiving strategy
A fundamental goal of a national caregiving strategy must be to change the narrative about care work and fully articulate the value it provides society and what we stand to lose in economic and human terms if we don’t support carers. A fundamental part of this work involves acknowledging and addressing the outsized burden of care carried by women and racialized people… a national caregiving strategy will make the issue of care politically and socially unignorable and will drive recognition that care work is skilled, dignified, necessary, and worthy of proper compensation.
Education
Ford government is still underfunding education despite budget increase, school boards say
Spending $30.3 billion on per-pupil funding in 2025-26 doesn’t make up for years funding didn’t keep up with inflation, says the boards’ association… when the Ford government took power in 2018, per-pupil funding was $12,282, and in the upcoming school year will be $14,560 — but when adjusted to 2018 dollars, funding has actually dropped, leaving a $693-million gap for the province’s 31 English public boards alone.
Bill 33 doesn’t dissolve Ontario’s school boards — but it’s yet another hit to their power
At the point where cabinet is asserting the power to micro-manage the real estate portfolios of boards (and even pick and choose when schools can be renamed) it’s time to ask whether school boards actually serve a purpose anymore, or whether we’d be better off governing public education with more direct and clear lines of accountability to the premier and his cabinet.
Employment
Why the Capital Gains Tax Increase Should Not See the Light of Day
The planned measure to increase the capital gains inclusion rate… would create a triple threat: harming Canadian businesses, discouraging investment, and penalizing middle-income Canadians… – Canada’s capital stock would decline by $127 billion, GDP would fall by nearly $90 billion, and real per-capita GDP would drop by 3 percent. Further, employment would decline by 414,000 jobs, which would raise unemployment from 1.5 million to 1.9 million workers.
Job Creation Falls Behind Rapid Population Growth
Canada’s labour market faces mounting pressures that cannot be fixed merely by adding more workers… “We cannot afford to leave talent on the sidelines – whether it’s older workers retiring too soon or immigrants struggling to use their skills,”… the country’s most acute demographic challenges [include] rapidly aging populations, lower workforce participation among seniors, high unemployment, and labour mismatches compounding regional disparities… “If we don’t act now, these gaps will only widen.”
Equality
There is no way this Ontario agency should have such a large surplus. Here’s what it needs to do
Legal Aid Ontario’s surplus offers a chance to address systemic issues by raising eligibility thresholds to reflect real living costs. Current thresholds barely align with poverty levels, excluding many in need. Setting realistic criteria would expand access to justice. Expanding legal aid coverage is crucial, especially in family, immigration and housing law, where representation can prevent crises like evictions, deportations and custody losses. A well-funded system must treat these as essential, not secondary, issues.
Following two blistering years of all-time high compensation, Canada’s 100 highest-paid CEOs pocketed $13.2 million, on average, in 2023—the third biggest haul since we’ve been tracking CEO pay. On average, these 100 CEOs were paid 210 times more than the average worker’s wage in 2023—from its high of over 240 times more pay in the previous two years… This report notes several trends and busts key myths about CEO pay and their worth:
Health
As Ontario pumps millions into private health care, public health will continue to suffer
Private facilities seem like a quick fix, but it leaves the public system with fewer health-care workers, which only further exacerbates public wait times. It’s a domino effect that’s difficult to stop. But stop it must. Longer-term strategies are needed. Ontario’s decision to fund primary care teams is a major step in the right direction, but simultaneously funding private facilities will only further erode access to public ones. It’s a downward spiral that Ontario continues to actively fund… Half a billion dollars spent on private health facilities leaves half a billion dollars less to pay for public ones.
‘Nation-building’ projects should also reflect Canadian values
In his 2021 book, Value(s): Building A Better World For All, Mr. Carney reflects thoughtfully on the corrosive impact of inequality and unhealthiness, and how more equal societies are more resilient. He also writes about seven key values that are essential for building a better world: solidarity, fairness, responsibility, resilience, sustainability, dynamism, and humility, all laced with compassion. The way to embrace those values is to invest in programs that make people healthier and more equal…
Inclusion
Unpaid labour: Why volunteers can’t sustain essential services
ThePhilanthropist.ca – 2024/04 April 15, 2024. Joanne McKiernan There’s a shortage of meal-delivery volunteers, writes Volunteer Toronto’s Joanne McKiernan. The reality of prioritizing basic needs in challenging times, she says, means we cannot rely on volunteers for the same types of roles, time commitments, or skills exchange as in the past. There’s a shortage of […]
Doug Ford needs to follow the evidence on supervised consumption
… harm reduction doesn’t simply prevent overdoses and infectious diseases; it eases pressure on Emergency Response Services and our crowded ER’s… all residents deserve to live in peace and security… However, community safety is not a zero-sum game. It is possible to keep our neighbourhoods safe and clean while implementing comprehensive treatment services that save lives — even if it means moving those services to more appropriate locations and improving the way we deliver them.
Social Security
A basic income can be a strong investment in mental health
Research shows how poor mental health is a direct consequence of poverty. Money not only helps meet people’s material needs but also alleviates their worries. Reducing poverty translates into significant savings for the economy and the public purse. Canada could save $4 to $10 for every dollar spent on mental health supports. Poverty is not caused by personal failings. It is the social environment people live in that has the greatest impact on life trajectories.
Why the Canada Disability Benefit won’t end disability poverty, and how it could
It won’t be a game-changer, but it could help many if eligibility and access expand and clawbacks are not allowed to erode possibly its entire value… Though the benefit will not fill the poverty gap for hundreds of thousands of people, it could still reduce their depth of poverty… If it is intended to fill the poverty gaps in provincial and territorial social-assistance programs, the benefit amount should reflect that… Poverty is a policy choice – one that is inconsistent with Canada’s human-rights obligations.
Governance
How governments can get back to building affordable housing
… the financialization of housing is undermining our ability to build homes people can afford. We saw it clearly when the Ford government scrapped affordable housing rules in Toronto after pressure from corporate landlords… a new approach… means: Rapidly scale non-market and deeply affordable housing. Unlock and mobilize public land for housing construction. Ensure investments create good union jobs and build industrial capacity. Streamline timelines, remove barriers and build the infrastructure our communities need.
Ontario will uncrate a statue of Canada’s first prime minister. What took so long?
The statue can acknowledge our first prime minister’s singular contribution to the creation of one of the world’s most successful countries. But the plaque can also acknowledge that Macdonald was flawed, and while some of his views were quite progressive for the time (such as voting rights for women and Indigenous people), other views, such as the worthiness of residential schools, clearly don’t stand the test of time.
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