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Organized labour is now a Super PAC
Tuesday, July 17th, 2012
Jul. 16 2012
Individuals, corporations, and unions were legally limited to giving a maximum of $9,300 to Ontario political parties in 2011, whereas contributions to third-party entities were unlimited. The elementary teachers alone spent an astonishing $2.6-million on ads, almost 300 times as much as they could have given to a party… The unions also spent heavily on advertising before the election was called… only big business can raise the money to match big labour.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Beware Ottawa bearing gifts: Classic federalism is back
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
Jan. 17, 2012
The federal government has involved itself in numerous areas of provincial jurisdiction, including health, education and welfare, by using the so-called spending power… on the assumption that the federal government can spend money… for any purpose at all, even if the purpose is a matter of provincial, not federal jurisdiction… Executive federalism… has contributed mightily to the problem by generating so many shared-cost programs… the revival of classical federalism is an essential part of the revival of classical liberalism, with emphasis on smaller government, lower taxes and balanced budgets.
Tags: economy, ideology, tax
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
How first nations can own their future
Saturday, December 17th, 2011
Dec. 17, 2011
Truly progressive governments recognize individual property rights and enforce the rule of law, thus allowing people to reap the rewards of their initiatives. Individual property, voluntary yet enforceable contracts, open markets – these have been the holy trinity of economic progress in the Western world since the Industrial Revolution, and they are transforming China, India, Brazil and many other previously impoverished countries. The formula for progress is no different for first nations…
Tags: economy, ideology, Indigenous, participation, privatization, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Abolishing political subsidies is an incomplete resolution
Friday, January 21st, 2011
Jan. 21, 201
The subsidies inaugurated… in 2003 were supposed to be a revenue-neutral replacement for corporate and union contributions, which were outlawed… But, in fact, the subsidies provide about 50 per cent more revenue to national parties than they used to receive… Parties are not investment clubs. Give them more money, and they will spend it trying to win elections. Give them less money, and they won’t be able to campaign as often. Maybe they’ll even start to co-operate with each other in Parliament to avoid elections and pass some essential legislation.
Tags: budget, participation, tax
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Should we just shut up and do what Statistics Canada tells us to do?
Friday, August 20th, 2010
Aug. 20, 2010
The Conservative government was, indeed, wrong in the way it started the great census debate. Its reforms were not thought through, it should have consulted the user groups created through so many decades of providing cheap data, and it should have had a more coherent communications plan. (Any plan would have been an improvement.) But the fact that the government has made mistakes does not mean that everything the critics say is right.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
It’s no time to be complacent about doing time
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Apr. 15, 2010
The cost of crime is so high (estimated at $70-billion annually by Statistics Canada in 2003) that imprisonment of serious and repeat offenders is an excellent investment in purely economic terms – to say nothing of the value of restoring people’s faith in justice.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention
Posted in Child & Family Debates | 2 Comments »
Let’s give the First Nations homes of their own
Saturday, March 27th, 2010
March 27, 2010
We are proposing that the federal government pass a First Nations Property Ownership Act so that First Nations across Canada can have clear underlying and individual property ownership, should they so choose. The benefits of a First Nations property ownership would be substantial. ..
Tags: Indigenous, privatization
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
First nations property rights: Going beyond the Indian Act
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
Mar. 23, 2010
Quite simply, those first nations wishing to take over the responsibility of ownership should be able to acquire the title to their reserves from the Crown, thus emancipating themselves from the stifling paternalism of the Indian Act…
There should be a voluntary approach to property rights. First nations who want fee simple ownership should be emancipated from the Indian Act and allowed – not forced – to create those rights.
Tags: Indigenous
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
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