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Dalton McGuinty and Andrea Horwath have cut a sensible deal to avert an election.
Tuesday, April 24th, 2012
Apr 23 2012
The wealth surtax is projected to affect a mere 0.2 per cent of taxpayers and will raise $470 million next year. But the money won’t go to new programs as the NDP wanted. McGuinty plans to use it, conservatively, to pay down the deficit. “We all gave a little bit,” said McGuinty, calling the surtax a “sensible compromise” to make minority government work. It’s more than that; it’s good policy. But the only reason he’s agreeing to it now is that recent polling has shown it to be a popular idea. Support for higher taxes for the very wealthy runs in the 80 per cent range. There are few things that any government, anywhere can do to generate public support numbers like that.
Tags: budget, child care, disabilities, featured, Health, ideology, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
At 30, the Charter of Rights has reshaped our society, for the better
Saturday, April 14th, 2012
Apr 14 2012
[It] transformed us from being a parliamentary democracy to a constitutional one… At root, the Charter empowers the people… That is its great, enduring value… Under a series of vigilant judges who did not hesitate to strike down bad laws, or to “read in” rights when justice required, the Charter has come to affect most aspects of our lives. As Justice Claire L’Heureux-Dubé once put it, memorably, the Charter “stretched the cords of liberty” and enfranchised us all.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Toronto and Ottawa would benefit from supervised drug injection sites
Friday, April 13th, 2012
Apr 11 2012
giving addicts a safer place to use drugs can help curb the health risks, public nuisance and other problems associated with addiction. That’s the upshot of a comprehensive four-year study into the merits of setting up publicly funded “consumption facilities” — a.k.a. supervised injection sites — for illegal drugs in Toronto and Ottawa. It’s an idea whose time has come.
Tags: crime prevention, Health, ideology, mental Health
Posted in Child & Family Debates | 2 Comments »
Punishing the rich with extra taxes not an answer to inequity
Friday, April 13th, 2012
Apr. 12, 2012
… the day may come when it’s necessary to pay more tax – for everyone, not just $500,000-plus earners, who already pay at the highest marginal rate, making for high individual contributions. An extra two per cent is a form of punishment for success… Public hospital or university boards do need to show restraint and due diligence at the top – the top needs to be a model for the entire organization. The logic of restraint, applied fairly to all, is the most sensible policy, before any talk of raising taxes.
Tags: budget, ideology, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
Health Canada should not have closed National Aboriginal Health Organization
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
Apr. 09, 2012
… NAHO has played a crucial role in advancing research on aboriginal health, collecting and analyzing data, and leading community initiatives, such as programs to help people quit smoking, prevent suicide and avoid teen pregnancy… Aboriginals face unique challenges that seriously impact their health… The closure of NAHO will… leave a gaping hole for those who are most in need.
Tags: budget, Health, Indigenous, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
A new Canadian survey on the rich/poor gap and taxes should spark debate
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
Apr 10 2012
“The option of raising taxes to protect the social programs we cherish and to address income inequality has been absent from public debate for too long,” says… Ed Broadbent. “Our research shows Canadians are prepared to do their part and they expect the wealthy, corporate Canada, and their own governments to be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.”… Fully 89 per cent think addressing income inequality should be a government priority and 77 per cent think it’s a serious problem… As Broadbent argues, “gross inequality isn’t inevitable, it’s a political choice.” One that has distorted the public agenda for too long.
Tags: ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
The wrong answer to aboriginal overincarceration
Friday, April 6th, 2012
Apr. 05, 2012
Handing young aboriginal men and women a stay-out-of-jail card in cases of serious violence is a mistaken answer to the problem of overincarceration of aboriginal people in Canada. It puts one wrong in place of another… There is no doubt that the overrepresentation of aboriginal people in provincial and federal jails is a calamity for the country, for aboriginals and for the individuals behind bars… In the Louie case, having an aboriginal mother protected him from being held fully accountable for committing a violent crime.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, Indigenous
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Protecting seniors from elder abuse takes more than justice legislation
Sunday, April 1st, 2012
Mar 18 2012
… the Conservatives introduced legislation they say would lead to tougher sentences for those convicted of elder abuse. “Elder abuse is a serious issue and we must do whatever we can to fight it,” says Justice Minister Rob Nicholson… He’s right about the need to protect vulnerable seniors. But it will take more than a tweaking of the Criminal Code to do it. Here’s an idea: let’s protect seniors by making them less physically and financially vulnerable, thereby preventing much of the abuse from ever occurring.
Tags: crime prevention, disabilities, rights
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Ontario targets the poor by freezing welfare and delaying child benefit increase
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012
Mar 26 2012
“We are not prepared to balance this budget on the backs of families who may find themselves in difficult circumstances . . . or on the backs of our children,” McGuinty said. He then proceeded to do exactly what he’d said he wouldn’t by announcing that Ontario’s welfare rates will be frozen at their already lamentable level. Even worse, poor children will be denied a $100 payment they were to receive next year… McGuinty is wrong to freeze welfare rates, including for the disabled, as the cost of necessities jumps…
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Robocall affair vaults Canada into big leagues of political scandal
Sunday, March 25th, 2012
Mar 12 2012
Deliberate voter suppression would have seemed inconceivable in a Conservative party headed by Joe Clark or Robert Stanfield. But the gloves-off Harper partisans have shown such a taste for American-style electoral hardball… Certainly the Harperites have demonstrated what could be charitably described as a casualness about obeying Canada’s election laws, and an antagonism toward Elections Canada for trying to hold them accountable for violations.
Tags: crime prevention, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
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