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Senseless census argument number four
Monday, August 9th, 2010
August 9, 2010
A census is difficult for smaller entities to undertake, and it provides diffuse, but significant, benefits: better information about consumers, which improves efficiency and productivity; and better information for governments, smaller public institutions and researchers, which makes for better public policy, and ultimately better delivery in fields such as health and education. A government that takes pride in its managerial competence should see these as positive attributes, to be safeguarded and nurtured. The long-form census is one of the most efficient ways to collect this data.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Premiers set nation’s agenda
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
Aug 04 2010
While Ottawa has been mostly consumed with “gotcha politics” over the past decade, the premiers have focused on substantive issues. As a result, their annual conference has become an agenda-setter for the nation… Given that the premiers span the political spectrum from left to right, a meaningful consensus on most of these issues is unlikely… Given that the premiers span the political spectrum from left to right, a meaningful consensus on most of these issues is unlikely.
Tags: economy, Health, Indigenous
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Short census question: will the government listen?
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
Aug. 4, 2010
At a news conference on Tuesday, Treasury Board President Stockwell Day said he heard only three complaints about the government’s abolition of the long-form census questionnaire, suggesting that there’s no interest. Mr. Day has evidently failed to notice the overwhelming opposition to the proposed changes. Following is a sample of organizations whose leaders or membership have taken a position on this important matter of public policy… The chorus is coming from groups of every kind, yet the federal government continues to adhere to its wrong-headed policy.
Tags: ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
Put an end to affirmative action
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Jul. 24, 2010
The Conservatives may have misstepped on the census, but they have it right on affirmative action. This week, Cabinet Ministers Stockwell Day and Jason Kenney announced that the government will review discriminatory affirmative action policies that, for the last quarter-century, have given preferential hiring treatment to women, minorities, aboriginals and the disabled in the civil service. According to Mr. Kenney… “we must ensure that all Canadians have an equal opportunity to work for their government based on merit, regardless of race or ethnicity.”
Tags: ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
Bias triumphs in census row
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Jul 28 2010
On one side in this debate is a remarkable coalition of interests: provinces, municipalities, banks, unions, churches, universities, social agencies, francophone groups, native associations and others that find census information invaluable to their decision-making processes. They fear that a voluntary survey will be far less reliable because it is less likely to be filled out by rich and poor Canadians, immigrants and Aboriginal peoples. On the other side is blind prejudice about “intrusive government.”
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Scrap the Indian Act
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
Jul 25 2010
… lately, Indian leaders themselves have talked about their desire to get out from under the act and the Indian affairs department. They want to build a new relationship with the federal government as equals, not vassals. Atleo outlined several basic steps to be taken, starting with a comprehensive agreement with Ottawa that would affirm existing treaties, rights and aboriginal title and lay out the course for change in the relationship. Federal funding would be transferred directly to First Nations rather than filtered through the Indian affairs department.
Tags: Indigenous, rights
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Job equity has old Tory roots
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
Jul 24 2010
… the Bill of Rights attempted in 1960 [but] did almost nothing to right the wrongs of exclusion in employment. That’s why the landmark report of a royal commission headed by Rosie Abella (now a Supreme Court justice) argued persuasively that affirmative action was needed to redress the imbalances — with recruitment and targeting of under-represented groups. Do Day and Kenney cling to a 1960s-era view of “equality of opportunity,” or can they accept the present-day consensus for affirmative action, which has helped make the public service more reflective of the Canadians it serves?
Tags: disabilities, immigration, Indigenous, multiculturalism, rights
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
On the census, Canada should accept no substitute
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
Jul. 23, 2010
The census is a vast, lumbering operation, but it is, in essence, the biggest and best count in the country. It helps ensure that surveys done with much smaller samples are as accurate as possible. Modern societies depend heavily on all sorts of surveys. There is a huge demand for and supply of statistics, which is all the more reason to have ways of evaluating them. The census allows that evaluation… The Conservative government should recognize its mistake and restore the established practice for the 2011 census.
Tags: ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Tories: Tea Party North
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
Jul 23 2010
… as with the gun registry — which was massively supported by police chiefs across the country — the Conservative government is going its own way, for its own reasons. By ignoring expert opinion, it has created a crisis of confidence and a crisis of competence. Like the controversy over prorogation of Parliament, which many thought was merely an “elite” issue, the Conservatives may yet find that by insulting the intelligence of Canadians, they do themselves harm.
Tags: ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
The Tories exposed
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
July 23, 2010
… all the efforts to appear moderate, flexible and impartial are now discredited, as a result of the war Stephen Harper has declared on the census. The census is the mechanism by which the government gathers the hard facts — social, economic, demographic — needed to formulate effective public policy. The Conservative plot to destroy the census represents the most vivid blow yet in its war against empirical data. Ideologues don’t just ignore research. They actually abhor it, because it gets in their way. It interferes with their cosmology.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
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