Archive for the ‘Equality Policy Context’ Category
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Children should be at the top of the post-Truth and Reconciliation to-do list
The last Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples made 440 recommendations but is now a forgotten footnote in Canadian political history… There are consequences to conceding that “cultural genocide” took place – genocide is a crime that would, by necessity, lead to prosecutions. Harper has said he recognizes the UN Declaration on Human Rights as an “aspirational document.” But to lend it more legal weight than that would have implications on land rights, self-government, environmental rights and military policy.
Tags: budget, featured, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, rights, standard of living, youth
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How to ensure Truth and Reconciliation Commission report changes the country
Change does occur, but usually only when three things converge. First, policies change when a policy problem is framed narrowly and in conjunction with a “focusing event”… Second, policy change occurs when a narrowly framed policy problem can be attached to a concrete policy solution… the commission’s report contains a laundry list of problems and solutions and history teaches us that these types of reports are almost always ignored.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, Indigenous, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report
The actual document from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that culminates a six-year examination of residential schools and lays bare the horrors of Canada’s aboriginal children for more than a century.
Tags: featured, ideology, Indigenous, rights, standard of living, youth
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Why are Canadians subsidizing executive stock options?
… executive stock options “represent the most prominent form of legal corruption that has been undermining our large corporations and bringing down the global economy.” Canada compounds the problem by adding a special tax break that makes executive stock options even more lucrative — and costly to the Canadian treasury… It’s hard to think of another tax break that benefits so few people so much — and for no good reason.
Tags: economy, ideology, privatization, tax
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Should poor seniors have to pay to volunteer
… federal and provincial governments penalize seniors… who get pocket money to cover their expenses for volunteer jobs… [as it is] subtracted from their old-age government assistance cheques… Under social assistance rules, a person under 65 can make up to $6,000 a year from “gifts” without seeing their government cheques decline… There is no such limit when they become seniors at 65, though… It’s not clear if these cascading clawbacks stem from punitive planning or sloppy neglect.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, philanthropy, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Pay attention private sector: Public sector wages are higher because the gender gap is much smaller
The pay premium is not evenly distributed across the public sector… the people benefiting the most are women and minorities. Not fat-cat bureaucrats, but cooks and cleaners and clerks who are getting access to above-the-poverty line wages and sick leave benefits they would have far less access to in the private sector.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, multiculturalism, participation, standard of living, women
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Our middle-class obsession is leaving too many Canadians behind
The breadth of Canada’s middle class obviously means that… policies aimed at transferring wealth from other income groups to appease middle-class voters will be costly. Given that the main cause for concern is the worsening situation of lower-skilled workers, politicians who truly want to help those struggling in the “middle class,” should focus their efforts on helping disadvantaged groups of Canadians acquire more education and more skills.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
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More proof that income-splitting will benefit few
Income-splitting was, after all, part of a larger package of $5 billion in tax giveaways, which also included a bigger Universal Child Care Benefit and expanded Child Care Expense Deduction. Those benefits also disproportionately benefit a small number of better-off households and are too meager to cover the cost of child care… that $5 billion could better be spent on universal child care, which studies have shown would pay for itself — and more — in taxes paid by women going back into the workforce…
Tags: budget, child care, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Income inequality’s pitchfork in the road
[Mark Carney] spoke about how affluent nations had subtly morphed from being market economies to market societies and how it was changing the course of democracy for the worse. Any time citizens in general develop a growing distrust of the merits of the financial order, it’s just as bad for capitalism as it is for politics… “Prosperity requires not just investment in economic capital, but investment in social capital,” he reasoned.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living
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Ottawa just makes income inequality worse
On the international stage, Canada solemnly agrees that a small minority has acquired too much of the world’s wealth. Back home, Ottawa does nothing to stem – or even slow – the trend. The gap between rich and poor has increased sharply on Stephen Harper’s watch. The Prime Minister’s policies – spending cuts, tax credits for select groups and downloading of federal responsibilities – have made Canada less equitable and less inclusive.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, globalization, ideology, tax
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