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Will the disgrace ever end?
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
June 13/2011
… federal programs for First Nations require a legislative basis that will designate respective roles, responsibilities and eligibility. As it stands, there is no legislation or clarity on important areas such as education, health and drinking water. There is also a need for legislation that commits Ottawa to provide statutory funding to meet defined levels of service, which would eliminate the current climate of uncertainty about funding from year to year. First Nations also need organizations to support local service delivery, such as school boards, health service boards and social service organizations.
Tags: budget, Indigenous, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
For more diversity in the legal profession
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Jun. 07, 2011
A more racially diverse legal profession and judiciary is a goal worth pursuing. It is important to have legal leaders who reflect Canada’s rapidly changing demographics. This would help law firms to compete successfully in the global economy and foster innovation, and help judges and Crown prosecutors overcome any subconscious biases, so that they can apply the law more equitably. So far, the record is mixed.
Tags: multiculturalism, participation, rights
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Faith and poverty: A reason to believe
Friday, June 10th, 2011
Jun 10 2011
Daily they ease suffering by offering food programs for the hungry and emergency shelters for the homeless. Now, they’ve decided to take on a more difficult task: reducing the need for those acts of compassion and generosity by getting Queen’s Park to live up to its commitment to reduce poverty… The faithful are a patient lot, but time’s up. The coalition, which includes leaders from the Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist faiths, is marshalling its members to make sure poverty becomes — and remains — a key issue in next fall’s provincial election.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
How a child’s breakfast can improve health in old age
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Jun. 08, 2011
It is difficult to overcome the health effects of deficits experienced earlier in life. These deficits can include everything from poor-quality housing and a poor diet, to stressful life events and social isolation.
Programs aimed at alleviating poverty among schoolchildren pay dividends to society; these should be continued and, where fiscally practicable, extended… And universal health insurance and generous old age pensions do not prevent the accelerated decline in the health of poorer and less educated Canadians.
Tags: Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Canada, look to America’s truce in the drug war
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Jun. 09, 2011
Canada’s possession laws are an expensive irrelevancy. In 2009, there were 48,981 incidents of cannabis possession reported by police. While there is no up-to-date estimate on the annual costs of enforcement, a reputable 2002 study put them at $300-million. All this for a “relatively harmless” drug, as the Ontario Court of Appeal has called it. Canada has not even been able to get its act together to make marijuana truly available for medicinal use, according to an Ontario judge who has ordered Ottawa to fix the medical-marijuana law.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, ideology, rights
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Obesity: The next health challenge
Monday, June 6th, 2011
Jun 06 2011
Other countries, including Sweden, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands and France, have achieved significantly lower obesity rates than Ontario’s, ranging between 10 per cent and 11 per cent… What all of these countries share is an approach that looks beyond the health sector to engage other parts of society, and an emphasis on addressing the root causes of obesity rather than on treating the results.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, poverty
Posted in Health Delivery System | 1 Comment »
For $41-billion, Canadians deserve a straight answer
Monday, June 6th, 2011
Jun. 02, 2011
Ottawa needs to be able to hold the provinces to measurable improvements in key areas – easing emergency-room delays, filling in gaps in catastrophic drug coverage and working together to lower pharmaceutical costs (to name a few). As for the money . . . Jack Kitts, the council’s chair, says… “Most health experts would agree that there’s probably enough money in the system, there’s enough human resources in the system, there’s enough capacity in the system, if we were to change transformatively how we deliver the service to maximize the use of those resources.”
Tags: budget, Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
A smarter War on Drugs
Friday, June 3rd, 2011
Jun. 3, 2011
… shockingly, a Conservative Canadian government, which purports to understand capitalism, proposes to re-introduce legislation that would impose mandatory minimum sentences for small-scale marijuana growers. This ridiculous policy seems designed to keep the trade in the hands of criminal lowlifes, who police can then pursue and hopefully catch and prosecute -if there’s room in a courtroom and a judge is free some time in the next seven years, that is.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Ottawa can lead the way
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
Jun 02 2011
In a new survey the Health Council of Canada makes what amounts to a strong case for Ottawa taking a leading role in driving transformative change in the system, to make it more efficient. The immediate problem isn’t money: there’s plenty of that. But “if the federal government does not play the oversight and collaborative role of bringing the provinces together (to boost efficiencies) the gaps in accessibility and quality and sustainability… will widen”…
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Majority government, majority social policy
Sunday, May 22nd, 2011
May 21, 2011
Tax relief usually is welcome when people actually have the financial resources in the first place (employment or investment income, private pensions, retirement savings and other assets) to keep more of their money in their pockets. For the many lowincome seniors, and nonseniors alike in Canada, additional tax relief is immaterial to improving their income security. The GIS increase announced in March means that most seniors who receive the maximum benefit are still living far below the poverty line.
Tags: budget, ideology, pensions, poverty
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
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