The provinces’ poor-us act on health care is wearing thin
Tuesday, March 28th, 2023
The provinces chose to ignore those tax-point grants in the recent funding debate. But a new round of tax-point transfers makes sense: it would put the ability to generate health care dollars – and the responsibility for how well they are spent – in the hands of the provinces that deliver the services.
Tags: budget, economy, jurisdiction, mental Health, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
A long-term plan for long-term care
Tuesday, March 14th, 2023
… it’s time for a new plan, one that a number of other countries have already adopted: a Canada Long-Term Care Insurance Plan, to provide a guaranteed quality of life for the elderly who are frail… long-term care insurance promotes better care, and ultimately saves the government money, by increasing the years people are able to live in their homes in older age and reducing the time spent in nursing homes and hospitals.
Tags: disabilities, economy, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, Seniors, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada’s vanishing health care crisis
Saturday, February 18th, 2023
Health care spending is actually declining this year on average, once population growth is factored in… Only the three Maritime provinces are planning to boost health care spending faster than the increase in the federal transfer… the contrast between the urgent rhetoric of the premiers and the tepid growth of spending underscores, again, the need to firmly place the responsibility for health care funding on the provinces.
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
A prescription to ease the emergency in Canada’s ERs
Friday, December 16th, 2022
Opening more doors for doctors trained elsewhere, Canadian or otherwise, is where Ottawa can focus any new dollars it commits, in co-operation with the provinces. That money should come with strings attached by government – to steer new doctors to family practices in underserved areas… We don’t know where family doctors are working, how they’re working, and where the shortages are. Collecting and collating that information… is a necessary first step.
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Provinces want a blank cheque for health care. Ottawa should say no
Wednesday, December 14th, 2022
In the short term, the supposed health care transfer would simply go to pay down the debts of subnational governments… With recent history as a guide, much of that money would go to increasing salaries of health care workers, not to improving services… In that light, Ottawa’s position that ties new funding to a national health data system makes sense. So does its push for goals in key areas of reform, including family health and long-term care.
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Justin Trudeau goes all in on the carbon tax. It’s the right thing – for the environment, and the economy
Monday, December 14th, 2020
The aim is for people to do such a good job of reducing emissions, and thereby avoiding the tax, that revenues eventually spiral to zero. The carbon tax’s goal is its own obsolescence… Among economists, putting a price on carbon is generally seen as the most efficient way to push people and businesses to use less carbon… In taking the 2030 climate goals seriously, and choosing carbon pricing to achieve them, Ottawa is making the right move, rather than the easy move.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, tax
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Taking advantage of workers must not be the future of work
Monday, November 9th, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has laid waste to our economy and exposed deep inequalities in our communities. It has shown how frayed our social safety net has become and how much is wrong with the labour market… The pandemic has shown how low-paid, precarious work isn’t just bad for the people who hold down those jobs, but for society as a whole… It can’t be left up a few companies who have landed on an exploitative business model to decide what the future of work looks like.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
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How to Take on the Tech Barons
Sunday, November 8th, 2020
The pandemic has laid bare both the promise of technology — softening the blow of months at home — and its rougher edges, which include the consolidation of power and ever-greater personal data collection… to confront, among other things, the exposed gaps in the nation’s broadband network; the urgent need for broad online privacy protections; the rollout of 5G; growing consumer resentment of technologists; and the pitfalls of nascent technologies like self-driving cars, artificial intelligence and facial recognition.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, privatization, rights
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
With the pandemic war still on, can we afford a postpandemic Throne Speech?
Thursday, September 10th, 2020
Team Trudeau’s original 2015 idea of using that extra borrowing to pay for a temporary surge in long-term investment fell by the wayside. There’s a strong hint it might be revived later this month. Would that make sense? The only fair answer is: It depends on what the money is being spent on… If it’s permanent, how will it be paid for?
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Dare we broach the subject of higher taxes?
Thursday, July 30th, 2020
Current interest rates are so low that… with long-term bonds, debt-servicing costs will remain manageable for decades to come… When the economy is back on its feet, taxes are something Canadians are going to have to talk about. Canadians can have a future of stronger health care, better education, less poverty, less inequality and more opportunity. These are good things, but they’re not free. They’re going to have to be paid for.
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
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