Archive for the ‘Debates’ Category
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How Canada can cash in on the U.S. economic malaise
Saturday, July 31st, 2010
July 30, 2010
Non-financial institutions in the United States have almost $2 trillion US in cash on their balance sheets but have no desire to invest there. Luring some of that money to Canada will help further modernize our economy, create jobs, generate more tax revenue and raise our standard of living. This window of opportunity won’t be open for long, so Ottawa and the provinces should launch a major marketing effort now to turn American apprehension into economic gain for Canada. What does Canada have to sell to those holding the $2-trillion US purse strings?
Tags: economy, standard of living, tax
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Oil addiction: Our future at stake
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Jul 19 2010
… when oil prices reach the point that tar sands development becomes the major player in our national economy, it raises Canada’s dollar. This leaves our manufacturing unable to compete, so we lose hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs. Yet our governments do nothing about it because of the enormous influence the fossil fuel lobby commands. We can’t even get them to keep up with the green energy initiatives our major trading partners have already implemented… This myopia is going to leave us with neither manufacturing nor sellable resources.
Tags: economy, globalization, standard of living
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Echo of Bob Rae’s social contract
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Jul 20 2010
Given that the economic recovery is fragile, the unions are right in arguing that now is not the right time to begin slashing public sector spending. But surely it is time to plan for future restraint, which is what the government is doing… As for “taxing the rich,” that is not a realistic option for a sub-national government. It would simply drive businesses and high-income individuals out of the province. Should the deficit be fought entirely on the backs of public sector workers? Of course not. But they should be part of the solution.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology
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Public sector austerity unreasonable and irrational
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Jul 20 2010
Even though the growth in state deficits was directly the product of bailing out the banks, the loss of revenue and the emergency spending, governments were expected to shift their policy priorities to public sector austerity. The G20 was reconvened in Toronto to reassure financial markets that they heard the message… the remedy should be a… once-in-a-life time emergency tax on those who accumulated the most wealth over the past quarter century from asset inflation while workers’ incomes stagnated in both the public and private sectors.
Tags: budget, globalization, standard of living
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Citizen of One, Citizen of the Whole [eliminating provincial trade barriers]
Monday, July 19th, 2010
July 19, 2010
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a new independent public policy think tank based in Ottawa, has emerged with the mission to enhance the public policy discussion in Canada through non-partisan research. A recent article from the Institute analyzes the benefits of eliminating provincial trade barriers and the implementation of an Economic Charter of Rights for Canadians.
Tags: economy, rights, standard of living
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Obama’s ‘we’ philosophy collides with capitalism’s ‘me’
Friday, July 9th, 2010
Jul. 09, 2010
His is a vision of a virtuous clean-energy economy nurtured by government. It is benevolent, ordered and seemingly devoid of egos, obvious wealth or crude self-interest… on the failures of Reaganomics and its Bush-era imitations, “They gave us tax cuts that weren’t paid for to millionaires that didn’t need them. They gutted regulations and put industry insiders in charge of industry oversight… and despite all their current moralizing about the need to curb spending, this is the same crowd who took the record $237-billion surplus that President Clinton left us and turned it into a record $1.3-trillion deficit.”
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living
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Short-term pain for long-term pain
Friday, July 9th, 2010
Jul 09 2010
With unemployment still at intolerably high levels, Canada has begun to engage in “fiscal consolidation.” This is the new euphemism for austerity. For cutbacks in jobless benefits and pensions, for tax increases on the working class, and reductions in social-service spending… Governments understandably are concerned about mounting deficits… But the way to eradicate those deficits is by creating jobs, and the tax revenues they generate, until the private sector feels confident enough to take back the 400,000 jobs it eliminated in Canada since the recession began…
Tags: budget, economy
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Where’s the ‘net benefit’ to Canada?
Friday, July 9th, 2010
Jul 09 2010
One by one they’ve toppled: Stelco, Dofasco, Inco, Falconbridge, Noranda, Domtar. Since Stephen Harper took power, more than 600 Canadian companies have fallen into foreign hands. Business leaders say these takeovers have been good for Canada. They have accelerated the pace of technological change, brought badly needed capital into the country and encouraged Canadian companies to become aggressive global hunters. Community leaders say they have hollowed out Canada, stripping the nation of its industrial icons and destroying livelihoods.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
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Measuring the merits of privatization
Monday, July 5th, 2010
Jul 05 2010
For opponents, any outsourcing or privatization of public services is seen as leading to deteriorating service standards and working conditions. The disaster of Walkerton and the rapidly escalating tolls on Highway 407 are often pointed to as illustrations… Conversely, privatization promoters argue that asset sales can raise much needed funds for government, improve the efficiency of public service delivery, and reduce the potential for disruptive labour stoppages… Here is a list of eight criteria that should be used when assessing the merits of privatizing a public asset.
Tags: budget, privatization
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WSIB fixes troubled injured worker re-training program
Friday, July 2nd, 2010
Jul 02 2010
A wasteful $150 million worker retraining program has been scrapped and replaced by a streamlined system provincial officials say will protect vulnerable workers and save money. A Toronto Star investigation in early 2009 showed the costly provincial Labour Market Re-Entry program, which had been outsourced to the private sector, failed to lead nearly half of its participants to jobs. The Star found injured workers were being sent to for-profit schools charging high tuitions so they could prepare for menial jobs as cashiers and attendants.
Tags: budget, standard of living
Posted in Debates, Social Security Debates | 6 Comments »
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