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Tricky politics for Canada as junior partner in international tie-ups
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
Feb. 16, 2011
The negotiation of a continental perimeter border and security deal with the United States, the proposed merger of the Toronto and London stock exchanges, and the possible free trade and investment treaty with the European Union all dilute Canada’s ability to act alone; that is, to exercise its sovereignty. In exchange, in theory, the Canadian economy will benefit.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Are Canadians more conservative? No
Sunday, February 6th, 2011
Feb. 04, 2011
It’s widely said these days that Canada is moving politically to the right and that Canadians are becoming generally more conservative in their outlook on public matters. It’s an assertion based sometimes on hope, often on conjecture, occasionally on fragmentary evidence, but never on serious facts and deep analysis. Indeed, the latest Focus Canada survey by the Environics Institute so completely demolishes the assertion that perhaps now it can be laid to rest.
Tags: economy, ideology
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Attack the policies, not the person
Saturday, January 22nd, 2011
Jan. 21, 2011
… the ads are degrading and disgusting because they demean the personalities, backgrounds and motivations of other leaders. The ads are nasty, personal and below-the-belt. Which is what, alas, Canadians have come to expect from the Harper-led Conservative Party… When a politician so lowers the tone of discourse to impugn his opponents’ motivations and backgrounds, how does that politician expect the broad public to have any respect for the accuser, the political process and all those who work there.
Tags: participation
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
The good, the bad and the ugly education facts
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
Jan. 12, 2011
Canadian results ranked in the top 10 in every category, beating every Western industrialized country except Finland. But Canadian scores dropped in reading, science and math since the last PISA test in 2000… it’s education, not health care, that will light a path to a more productive future. As Canada ages, however, the public pressure to spend even more on health and less on education will intensify.
Tags: budget, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
The GST, hated by many, stands the test of time
Friday, January 7th, 2011
Jan. 7, 2011
The GST helped improve the competitive position of Canada’s economy. It proved to be a hardy source of revenue for the federal government. It also allowed the lowering of personal and corporate taxes. And a GST tax credit helped to cushion the blow for low-income citizens…. it encourages savings and investment… Today, no political party and no economist would wish to return to pre-GST days, bringing back the 13-per-cent manufacturers’ sales tax, an export- and job-killing tax.
Tags: budget, ideology, tax
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »
The big winner at Kananaskis: Little Canada
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
Dec. 22, 2010
Strong countries have one regulator, of course, but in our kingdom of principalities, four provinces – Alberta, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan – oppose the creation of something national… So we will wait for the Supreme Court hearing, in which the interests of the whole country will be pitted against those of some of its constituent parts. Big Canada needs an effective internal economic market, given the ferocity of external competition… The Alberta-Quebec alliance at the core of the opposition to a national securities regulator also scuttled expansion of the Canada Pension Plan at Kananaskis.
Tags: ideology, pensions, privatization, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
The parochialism of Little Canada is killing us
Friday, December 17th, 2010
Dec.17, 2010
… we have provincial governments that epitomize Little Canada thinking, blocking the creation of a national securities regulator of the kind all other industrialized countries have… Canada doesn’t have a national health-care plan. Instead, it has some federal dollars to help finance a series of provincial plans that may or may not pay attention to nominal national norms. Big Canada can be Ottawa acting alone, or Ottawa acting in harmony with provinces, or the provinces working constructively together… Little Canada is easy to define: parochialism working against other parochialisms, or parochialism sharpening itself by working against Ottawa, with provincial politicians appealing to the lowest common denominator of local prejudices.
Tags: economy, featured, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Electoral injustice: Cities are getting the shaft
Wednesday, December 8th, 2010
Dec. 8, 2010
… urban and suburban [areas] across Canada, are already being shafted by the electoral map that heavily favours rural and northern areas. Ridings there already have many fewer voters – tens of thousands, in some cases – than those in urban and suburban areas. And, of course, the Atlantic provinces and Quebec already have too many seats relative to the rest of Canada, courtesy of deals made at Confederation or later… Apportioning seats among provinces is supposed to be a technical, straightforward matter that starts with the decimal census.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
It wouldn’t kill us to look at Australian health care
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
November 24, 2010
Australia not only allows private insurance, it encourages a private system for doctors and hospital care, alongside the comprehensive public one…. Australia spends about 1.5 per cent less of its national income on health care than Canada. As in Canada, costs are rising about 6 per cent annually… the Australian population, it would appear… is generally content with their system… What Canadians would see as the inequities of such a system – “two-tier medicine” – Australians seem to accept as a reasonable compromise between efficiency and equity.
Tags: budget, Health, pharmaceutical, privatization
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
When ideological purity goes out the window
Saturday, November 6th, 2010
Nov. 6, 2010
Almost everywhere in the Western world, divided government is the rule, and divided governments can seldom be ideologically pure… Minority governments generally do better at getting along. By virtue of their internal dynamics of compromise, they tend to be pragmatic. Ideology doesn’t rule them; political survival does… The world of politics is always complicated. It’s even more complicated in minority or coalition situations. Nostrums and ideological purity have no place in such circumstances
Tags: budget, globalization, ideology
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
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