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It took a disaster for Doug Ford to abandon Mike Harris’s destructive legacy
Saturday, June 27th, 2020
Never mind the rhetoric about cutting red tape, slashing taxes, unplugging photo radar, downsizing government and downloading welfare, its underpinning is simply this: Politics shall henceforth be transactional. Not transformational. Ask not what you can do for your country or province. Ask what your government can do for you to keep more money in your pocket… But it took the COVID-19 crisis to truly unravel that revolution — at least for now.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Governance History | 1 Comment »
COVID-19 has changed us forever. Has it really changed Doug Ford?
Saturday, June 13th, 2020
All his core beliefs — disruption, deregulation and deficit reduction — have been upended by a more powerful disrupter in COVID-19… A good clue to Ford’s true thinking comes from his stubborn refusal — against all evidence and advice — to restore the paid sick days he eliminated before the pandemic… Never mind the serene rhetoric on the surface, it is Ford’s underlying actions that count.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Unpaid sick days are what ails Doug Ford’s recovery plan
Tuesday, June 9th, 2020
It makes no sense to expect the working poor to become poorer if they come down with COVID-19. Nor is it fair to demand they sacrifice their individual wages, in poor health, so as to benefit society’s collective health… By penalizing sick workers, we will only make more people sick. The premier is right to preach that workers should stay home when unwell. But he should put his money where his morality is, rather than demand that those who can least afford it bear the burden
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, rights
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada has a racism problem, and it’s uniquely ours
Saturday, June 6th, 2020
As individuals, we are perfectly capable of descending into racism or intolerance indistinguishable from what we see elsewhere. By accident of history and geography, we have developed a culture of accommodation and compromise. But we also benefit from a political inheritance that sets us apart. Sociologists often make reference to Canadians’ deference to authority. To me, it’s our preference for collectivity that counts.
Tags: featured, ideology, Indigenous, multiculturalism
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
When it comes to long-term care, what matters more than ownership is accountability and responsibility
Tuesday, May 12th, 2020
The profit motive works in our market system. But what works for Walmart — relentless cost-cutting pressure on suppliers and minimal staffing ratios for low wage part-timers — is hardly an optimal model for nursing homes where part-time, underpaid caregivers are responsible for safeguarding people, not products… There is no excuse for not regulating and inspecting comprehensively, annually and aggressively. Surely that is the primary role and responsibility of government
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Mike Harris expanded the privatization of long-term care. Doug Ford is discovering that wasn’t a magic cure
Tuesday, May 5th, 2020
There is a contradiction in the criticisms of long-term care: We want to have it all for nothing — better beds but more of them; more quantity and more quality; single rooms with private bathrooms but without the wait lists; more for less… Today, in a pandemic cycle, beware the panaceas.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 12 Comments »
Doug Ford didn’t protect long-term-care facilities from COVID-19. Neither did the rest of us
Thursday, April 16th, 2020
We could and should hold the current government to account — for falling behind the rest of Canada on testing, for lagging on nursing-home care, for fobbing off responsibility on to public health officials. But there is enough blame to go around — for politicians past and present, public servants and the public… Our premier has put his best face forward in recent weeks, but he still has much to answer for.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, pharmaceutical, poverty
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Gig-economy workers already knew what coronavirus is teaching the rest of us now
Saturday, March 21st, 2020
… we already have the antidote to precarity: security — income security. And not just in an emergency. Income security sounds like something abstract or complicated, but nothing could be more tangible and understandable: If you lose income, you make it up with a guaranteed minimum; if you gain or regain income, you give up your supplement (it’s taxed back).
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Doug Ford wants his Mike Harris moment. Teachers won’t give it to him. Taxpayers will pay for it
Wednesday, December 18th, 2019
Under the pretext of an inflated deficit, Ford’s Tories pre-emptively imposed a legislated salary cap of one per cent on the public sector, just in time, coincidentally, for teacher negotiations. They did this knowing that the courts overruled such overreach when a Liberal government abrogated collective bargaining rights in 2012 (during a real fiscal emergency, unlike today’s imaginary crisis)
Tags: budget, ideology, rights, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Mental health reform in Ontario is no easy matter
Friday, July 26th, 2019
Without innovative new approaches to treatment, the rising cost curve will place unprecedented pressure on already soaring health budgets… Experience shows that CBT yields impressive results with far shorter treatments, and can be delivered by other regulated health care practitioners, not just psychiatrists.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, mental Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
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