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Canadians need more clarity on how government spends
Friday, July 22nd, 2011
Jul. 18, 2011
Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, is right to have drawn attention this month to a recent OECD survey, which found Canada’s interim reporting of government spending to be slower and less detailed than most of the 24 other countries considered… the PBO will be supplying quarterly reports from its new database, with a time lag of about 60 days… The true purpose of prompt interim reporting is to allow parliamentarians to compare the estimates that MPs had previously voted on with the government’s actual spending – or lack of it – comfortably inside one annual budgetary cycle.
Tags: budget, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario’s have-not economics
Friday, July 22nd, 2011
Jul. 22, 2011
The day before Mr. Duncan tore into the “absolutely crazy” equalization formula that allows Ontario to qualify for transfer payments from other provinces, Premier McGuinty was in Vancouver ahead of the 2011 Council of Federation meetings with his provincial and federal counterparts. Speaking with reporters, he made clear that he would resist any attempt to dilute the payouts yielded to have-not provinces under the equalization system. Ontario would “assert itself,” he said, to oppose any change that would result in the province receiving any less than it already is.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Public must have its say
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
Jul 19 2011
Councillors also need to hear from those who want to preserve what makes our city great… There’s a legitimate debate to be had over delivering services more effectively, lobbying Queen’s Park for more support, trimming what waste the consultants may identify and raising taxes to make up any shortfall. But no city achieves greatness by blindly pinching programs and slashing services. What Toronto needs is a vision that soars, not one that shrinks from challenges.
Tags: budget, participation, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
System failed mentally ill teen
Monday, July 18th, 2011
July 18, 2011
If this were an isolated tragedy, it would be reasonable to hope the inquest into his death would prevent other young people with mental illness from suffering the same fate. But an eerily similar inquest is being conducted into the death of Ashley Smith, a 19-year-old with a history of mental illness, who strangled herself in a Kitchener prison a year earlier. And both investigations come at a time when mental health providers are pleading with all three provincial party leaders to address the urgent need to get children and youth into treatment.
Tags: corrections, mental Health, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
First Nations: Forge hope from the pain
Sunday, July 17th, 2011
Jul 16 2011
In theory at least, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is… committed to holding a “Canada-First Nation Crown Gathering” to discuss a wide variety of issues: governance reforms, accountability, economic development and schooling, among others… Native leaders talk of negotiating a wide-ranging deal with the Canadian government that would affirm treaties, aboriginal title and rights, and chart a path forward… Ultimately, Atleo envisages breaking up the federal Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development department and giving First Nations the option at least of managing their affairs outside the restrictive 1876 Indian Act.
Tags: Indigenous, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
The disproportionate fees for cataract surgery
Sunday, July 17th, 2011
Jul. 15, 2011
When a surgery becomes quicker, less intense and safer, it’s fair to consider a fee reduction, especially in a publicly funded health-care system where value for money and sustainability are inextricably linked… Overpriced cataract surgery highlights why the fee-for-service system, where doctors are paid for each procedure they do, should be replaced with a mixed payment system… what’s really needed is a new way to compensate doctors that is fair and equitable, and helps sustain the public health-care system for decades to come.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Child care isn’t a frill
Sunday, July 17th, 2011
Jul 13 2011
The “key opportunities” identified in the latest report by KPMG include eliminating 2,000 daycare spaces subsidized for low-income families… Though they identified the option, even KPMG’s accountants see the dangers in cutting access to affordable child care. “Reducing the number of subsidized child care spaces,” they write, “will make work and/or school less accessible to some parents, and may increase Ontario Works and Employment and Social Services case loads (and costs).”
Tags: child care, economy, ideology, participation, women
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Public schools cannot be places of prayer
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Jul. 08, 2011
The 300 students who pray in the cafeteria actually have a nearby mosque they could pray at, and letting them do so during the school day would be a reasonable accommodation… So the issue, then, is not really accommodation of belief; instead, the school is accommodating the young people’s reluctance to return. Religious groups are free, in a democratic society, to challenge dominant ideas of equality, but the schools should not allot them space, on school time, to do so.
Tags: multiculturalism, participation
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Patients should be at centre of health services
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Jul. 10, 2011
Medicare is built around those who provide care – doctors and nurses – not those who receive it. With an aging population, every Canadian hospital must move quickly to revolutionize its health services, with patients at the centre. If not, they should face a cut in public funds. Most patients with multiple medical problems today are elderly… But that cost should not include disjointed medical care, with numerous specialists in different locations and no one seemingly in charge… creating a logjam for hospitals, cancelled operations and wasted resources.
Tags: budget, Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Governments are failing families on child care
Sunday, June 19th, 2011
Jun 18 2011
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has shown nothing but disdain for regulated child care and the transformative effect it can have on families and the economy. In 2006, Conservatives killed a promising national child-care program and replaced it with $100-a-month cheques for parents with children under 6. Since then, Harper has happily handed out $2.6 billion a year of taxpayers’ money through this program without producing any new daycare spaces or enabling parents to afford existing ones.
Tags: budget, child care, ideology, standard of living, women
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | 1 Comment »
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