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Ontario: Brutal under-funding punishes health and education
Friday, March 3rd, 2023
What’s happening in health care, education, and other services tells a story of a government that simply refuses to invest in the services Ontarians need… The current crisis in Ontario health care stems not only from the pandemic, but also from bad public policy… coupled with tax cuts that have been implemented, it results in a shrinking public sector and weakened public services. That opens the door to increased private profit-making off of the public services that Ontarians hold dear.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Queen’s Park must pull its weight on health care spending
Wednesday, February 8th, 2023
… the FAO says. Under current plans, funding for health care over the next three years will be $5 billion less than what is needed just to maintain existing programs… it now appears that any bilateral deal between Ontario and Canada will require that the province at least maintain current spending levels (presumably adjusted for inflation). That’s not a high bar. Ottawa could do more, especially when it comes to blocking provincial plans to siphon public dollars into private profits.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, jurisdiction, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Ontario health spending will be too low if the 2022 budget is passed
Friday, May 20th, 2022
For every $1.00 the 2022 budget plans to spend on health care program spending (i.e., care) over the period 2022-23 to 2024-25, the government plans to spend $1.80 on health capital (construction). To truly improve access to care, Ontario needs to rebuild the health care workforce. The first step in that process is repealing Bill 124… limiting compensation increases to 1% is punishing the health care workers that we have depended on for the last two years
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living, women
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Is there a made-in-Canada solution to high inflation?
Saturday, January 1st, 2022
Inflation and the pandemic have a lot in common: both attack household incomes, both hit low-income households hardest, and both demand government action to support incomes. Social assistance rates must rise, as they should have years ago. Minimum wages must rise. Federal transfers to low-income Canadians should increase. Painful 20th century policy prescriptions to cut inflation by squeezing the life out of the economy, through increasing interest rates and reducing government supports, are no answer to our 21st century problems. They will only make our problems worse.
Tags: child care, economy, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Would a wealth tax be effective?
Monday, September 6th, 2021
There is no more efficient way to reduce inequality and boost the economy than through funding public programs that people need. All within reach are things like affordable child care, ensuring high-quality and compassionate care for our seniors, funding a just transition to the zero carbon economy, or building enough affordable housing units to meet the need… A wealth tax will help us get there by making the tax system more progressive — and that will make it more fair. – vs – Canada already has a highly progressive income tax system where upper income earners pay a disproportionately large share of taxes.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Don’t Fret over Deficits and Debt
Thursday, September 26th, 2019
In 2017-18, federal program spending was 14.5% of GDP—an increase of 1.6 percentage points from 2015, but still shy of postwar levels — and slated to fall to 13.8% by 2023-24. On the other side of the ledger, federal revenues are also near all-time lows relative to GDP. Revenues as a share of GDP, at 14.5%, are two percentage points lower than the 50-year average of 16.4%, representing an annual loss of more than $40 billion.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Should there be a wealth tax on the very rich?
Wednesday, September 25th, 2019
One per cent of net worth is a very modest level of taxation. With a wealth tax at that level, the fewer than 10,000 Canadian families who would pay it wouldn’t be forced to change their lifestyles in any way. But Canada wide, the money raised could do a lot of good… [but] Wealth taxes… can trigger problematic responses… are an administrative nightmare. And they just plain don’t bring in as much revenue as their proponents hope.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
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