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Hey Occupy, what about the 20%?
Sunday, September 2nd, 2012
September 01, 2012
… public-sector workers now make nearly a third more than their private-sector colleagues when pay, perks and hours of work are factored in… But perhaps the biggest gap between public and private employees comes in their pensions… governments pump more than twice as much per employee into their workers’ pensions as private-sector employers do… yet, even with all this extra money, public-pensions plans are hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. They couldn’t even come close to paying all the pension money they’ve promised without enormous subsidies from taxpayers.
Tags: budget, pensions, privatization, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Saying goodbye to ‘Indian’ affairs
Friday, May 20th, 2011
May 20, 2011
The federal government’s move to change the name of the Department of Indian Affairs to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs is a good idea. The new name is more accurate, more modern and more inclusive… So the old name — Indian Affairs — overlooked 47% of aboriginal Canadians. It was also outdated to the point of being racist.
Tags: ideology, Indigenous, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
We’ve become a wimpy state, as well as a nanny state
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
January 20, 2011
… public institutions such as universities, museums and galleries, apparently care not a whit about free expression or individual choice. Their first instinct is to crater to protestors; let the forces of oppression and extremism have their way. Forget about preserving democracy and open debate, officials will act as the forces of censorship want. The trouble with refusing to stand up to threats of protest is that it just begets more threats. For as long as cowardly officials are going to give in, hate-filled activists are going to be encouraged to keep uttering threats.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Stop giving premiers an excuse to spend recklessly. It’s time to end equalization payments
Friday, October 22nd, 2010
October 22, 2010
End transfer payments to the provinces. Let Ottawa give them greater room to tax their own residents, but let provincial legislatures also have to make the tough choice to increase taxes on their own citizens if the politicians want to spend more on health, education, welfare and other provincial functions Ottawa is now subsidizing… If provincial politicians can lay off some or all of the cost of their plans on taxpayers in other provinces — as our current transfers and equalization payments permit — there will be no incentive for them to make sound choices.
Tags: budget, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
How the Liberal elites lost touch with Canadians
Monday, July 12th, 2010
July 7, 2010
The transformation began under Lester Pearson, when the Liberals launched huge new social programs — universal medicare and pensions — that were uncharacteristically collectivist for the party. Their central characteristic was the suspension of personal responsibility. Canadians were to be guaranteed health care and retirement income regardless of whether they had made plans and sacrifices during their healthy working years for the time when they became sick or old… In short, the Liberals have become “elitist” — because they no longer trust ordinary people to make the right choices for themselves.
Tags: ideology, participation
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Too much government
Friday, January 29th, 2010
Posted: January 29, 2010.
Today, in Canada, all levels of government, through all their taxes, can confiscate as much as half or more of a taxpayer’s income, in total…
And yet, like the abused spouse rushing back to an abuser, many Canadians continue to sing the praises of ever bigger and bigger government.
Posted in Inclusion Debates | 1 Comment »
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