Smear tactics tar protesters
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Jun 01 2010
It’s sad that it needs to be noted that dissent is something worthy; that it used to be considered one of the cornerstones of democracy. John Stuart Mill, one of the giants of Western thought, argued in his classic text On Liberty that dissent is essential to freedom, partly because it challenges the prevailing dogma, which is often wrong. Yet, rather than being treated as citizens exercising vital democratic rights, the dissenters who show up at the G20 will find themselves facing a phalanx of heavily armed police equipped with the latest assault toy: sound cannons…
Tags: ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
New voice for the financial elite
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
May 18 2010
The trade-off between fighting inflation and fighting unemployment lies as the centre of the monetary policy debate. But it’s a debate that’s almost entirely dominated by the financial community. That dominance will only increase with the establishment of this new monetary policy centre, which will present itself as a credible “independent” voice, while parroting the views of the financial elite that’s paying for it. …the C.D. Howe Institute… has a long history of pressuring the Bank of Canada to focus on eliminating inflation through high interest rates, even though high interest rates also kill jobs.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Restraint hits poor the hardest
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
May 04 2010
Despite a softer, more kindly demeanour, McGuinty has simply fine-tuned the cutback strategy, leaving today’s poor actually worse off than they were in the dark days of Harris… The government insists the poor were taking advantage of the special diet program… Of course, it’s not surprising that the poor turned out to be hungrier than anticipated, since, after inflation, welfare benefits today only have 55 per cent of the buying power they had in 1993.
Tags: standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Poor suffer the most in deficit wars
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Mar 09 2010
…while balanced books are an important goal, blindly worshipping them is awfully short-sighted. A family that celebrates having its finances balanced, while several of its children lie unfed on the living room floor and the roof is about to collapse, is clearly suffering from a warped sense of priorities.
Tags: featured
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Restraint for everything but sports
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Feb 23 2010
…the corporate world only supports public investments when it comes to sports and war, from which it makes money. But it wants to hold the line on public investment in health care, education, child care, social supports, etc.
So it’s tried to convince us these things aren’t affordable, or that we don’t want to pay for them – as we did in the past.
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Tory chill freezes out Tobin tax
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
Published On Tue Feb 09 201.
…with some of the world’s leading governments finally onside, Ottawa is emerging as an obstacle – just as it has in international efforts to tackle climate change.
If ever there was a moment for this sort of far-reaching financial reform, that moment is now, while Main Street still has the whiff of the Wall Street meltdown fresh in its nostrils.
Tags: featured
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
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