In Ontario, real cuts for citizens, tax cuts for companies
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
Nov. 23, 2011
The full extent of those cutbacks has largely escaped public notice because they are buried in the deceptively cruel calculus of the coming budget: To protect health care (allowed to rise 3 per cent) and education (1 per cent), all other departments must take a hit. That’s the only way to bend the cost curve to a 1 per cent overall budget increase, allowing Ontario to wipe out its $16 billion deficit by 2017-18.
Tags: budget, Health, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
Fixing Ontario’s double democratic deficit
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011
Nov 14 2011
Whatever your politics, last month’s provincial election results were doubly depressing: Voter-buying, and voter turnout, reached new highs and lows…. if they’re serious about rescuing a democracy that’s dying or, at best, atrophying: Internet voting. Turnouts have been declining steadily, from 68 per cent in 1975 to 49 per cent last month. It’s a warning sign that cries out for action
Tags: participation
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
The education of Tim Hudak on full-day K
Thursday, August 25th, 2011
Aug 24 2011
Hudak had reflexively opposed full-day K when Premier Dalton McGuinty acted on the recommendation of his early-learning adviser, Charles Pascal… He refused to commit to any future rollout. It wasn’t just a matter of money — $1.4 billion a year by 2014 — but ideology and politics. Instead, Hudak held out a classic Tory alternative: putting cash in parents’ hands… A PC survey asked voters about scrapping full-day K to “provide parents with direct financial support to allow them to choose the child-care option that works best for them.” The answer came back that Ontarians actually liked full-day K.
Tags: budget, child care, ideology, standard of living, women
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
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