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Decrying the unfairness
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Oct 04 2011
As activist Jackie Fellner, 32, put it, “it’s about big money dictating which politicians get elected and what programs get funded.” What began as a ragtag, easily-dismissed Facebook- and Twitter-triggered protest is proving to be bigger than a flash mob… Whether it will morph into a progressive riposte to the Tea Party with a coherent agenda of its own is still the big question… it’s a heartening sign that a rising young generation of voters is looking through their laptops, smart phones and tablets to the injustices around them.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Addicts deserve treatment too
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
Sep. 30, 2011
Sometimes, it falls to the courts to use the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to shield a powerless group from arbitrary state action. Heroin and crack addicts have no political constituency. But their lives have value, too… Why, then, was this a case to stand up to government? Why was Ottawa’s attempt to close Insite not a legitimate choice? Because the federal government was fighting illegal drugs on the backs of the most desperately ill people in our society, in a way that was bound to kill many of them.
Tags: Health, ideology, mental Health, rights, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Binnie’s wise words on unclogging courts
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
Sep. 28, 2011
Murder trials that once took five to seven days now take five to seven months to complete, and sometimes even last for years… Civil trials have doubled in length over 10 years, to 25.7 hours on average (she cited Vancouver figures). “As the delay increases, swift, predictable justice, which is the most powerful deterrent of crime, vanishes.”
Tags: participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
The health system we need
Sunday, September 25th, 2011
Sep 24 2011
Illness prevention, earlier intervention and home care cannot be seen as add-ons to the regular health-care system. They are just as essential as a hospital emergency room if we want a system that can properly and affordably cope with the needs of an aging population. But the idea that these new and enhanced health services should receive substantial money from within existing health budgets is something few politicians are ready to embrace.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
The Conservatives’ crime obsession is not magnificent
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Sep. 21, 2011
The government is obsessed with the tough-on-crime-and-drugs approach of the United States, even as U.S. conservatives move in the other direction – the Canadian one – because jail costs are outstripping investments in higher education… The government should also be spending some of its political capital, energy and money to address the causes of crime, including poor mental health, addictions and child poverty.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, economy, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
The Enlightened Rich Want to Be Taxed
Sunday, September 18th, 2011
September 9, 2011
Some of the world’s wealthiest people are calling for higher taxes on the rich. They seem to recognize that the burden of the economic downturn cannot be borne entirely by the poor and middle class… The suggestion is motivated, no doubt, by a sense of justice — that the very rich, who have survived the financial crisis very well, should contribute more to shrinking public coffers to reduce the spending cuts that would hurt the most vulnerable. But altruism does not fully explain why members of the global elite are suddenly keen to prevent the deep budget reductions… They are also moved by what some might call enlightened self-interest.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Real issue for election campaign [mental health]
Sunday, September 18th, 2011
Sep 17 2011
Undiagnosed and inadequately treated mental illness and addiction costs Ontario billions a year in increased health-care costs and lost productivity. Children cannot succeed in school, adults lose their jobs, families are destroyed and lives are cut short. One in five Ontarians will experience a mental illness or addiction. Add in their family and friends and that means most voters will be affected by this one issue. But it’s not an issue that lends itself to catchy slogans in a political leader’s stump speech or easy attack ads against their opponents.
Tags: Health, mental Health, participation
Posted in Health Debates | 1 Comment »
Three questions for the leaders
Friday, September 9th, 2011
Sep 08 2011
Amid all the rhetoric, voters should be looking to the leaders for answers to three key questions facing the province: How can we create the economy of the future? … How can we reshape health care? … How can we fix the province’s balance sheet? … Who has the best plan to cut spending where possible and protect services where necessary? Who can be trusted to get the balance right?
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, Health, poverty
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
Few cracks in the glass ceiling
Monday, September 5th, 2011
Sep 04 2011
A new Conference Board of Canada study shows that women’s advancement to the top echelons of business came to a dead halt in the mid-1980s. It has been stalled ever since… The mainstream think-tank did not call for a radical shakeup of corporate culture… It merely stressed that “fostering gender diversity is a natural extension of good business practice.” … the report does serve one valuable purpose. It shatters the long-standing myth that time corrects gender equities. It’s true that a few female stars have cracked the glass ceiling. But the path to the top is still blocked for most women.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, rights, women
Posted in Equality History | 2 Comments »
Live long and prosper, without fiscal doom [health costs]
Saturday, September 3rd, 2011
Sep. 02, 2011
Living longer does not mean being sicker longer…. Instead, the seemingly irresistible, inexorable rise of health-care spending has more to do with greater use of pharmaceuticals and with more and more services from more and more specialists – not just by the old, but by all patients… Public policy should be able to restrain health-care spending from eventually taking over an unsustainable, grossly unreasonable share of public budgets.
Tags: disabilities, Health, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
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