Archive for the ‘Equality Policy Context’ Category
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Our incomes may have grown, but lower earners are still losing
The census tells a tale of amazing prosperity for the already well-to-do, with individual incomes for those standing at the top one per cent growing by 48 per cent since 1985… One in seven, that’s also the fraction of Canadians living in what Statistics Canada carefully calls “low income.” … one in seven is exactly the fraction of low-income Canadians recorded in the 2005 census.
Tags: economy, featured, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Get sexist language out of the Indian Act
… the Liberal government is insisting on passing a law that fails to fully address sex discrimination in the Indian Act. It is defending a version of the bill that goes only part way and will be vulnerable to a court challenge as soon as it is passed… members of the newly feisty Senate… are insisting that Bill S-3, the law in question, be amended to remove all vestiges of sexist language that affects who qualifies to be legally regarded as a status Indian.
Tags: budget, ideology, Indigenous, rights, women
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Nurses announce support of proposed tax changes that have doctors fuming
“Nurses have told us that they believe people should pay their fair share, and the principle of paying people well for what they do is always the foundation. If you have advanced education, you’re in a job where you need a lot of skills and knowledge, you should be paid well for that. But you should also be taxed fairly for that, because income is income.”
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Why the Liberals’ proposed tax changes are taking a pounding
The changes do not target small business, or doctors, as such: only those who turn themselves into corporations… It is that they pay so much less in tax than other small businesses, and other doctors, of equivalent income: the ones who did not incorporate. The former pay less tax than the latter, not because they work harder, or take more risks, but solely because they are incorporated.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, tax
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The Liberals can and should win this fight against the rich
Since high earners have the means and the incentive to make use of tax planning strategies to shelter income from taxation, higher tax rates typically result in lower amounts of reported taxable income. Tax revenues may increase, but not appreciably… the Liberals raised the top personal income tax rate, many top earners were able to manoeuvre around it, and now the Liberals want to make it harder to shelter income from the top rate.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, tax
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Looking to move beyond the Indian Act, can Canada shed its ‘colonial structures?’
“It looks like they’re using the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples as a blueprint to move forward, with the cabinet committee on decolonizing Canada’s laws and now this bifurcation of the ministry… But nothing else fundamentally has changed at this point.” … “Getting out of the Indian Act is desirable, but if what replaces it is basically the same thing in a de facto sense, with these little communities with little access to land and resources, then what’s the point?”
Tags: Indigenous, jurisdiction, rights
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Supreme Court makes it clear. Indigenous peoples can’t veto pipelines
At the heart of this is the fact treaties signed between Indigenous nations and the Crown are part of Canada’s constitution. The courts have long held that this alone requires the government to consult with First Nations before authorizing projects that could affect treaty rights. What hasn’t been entirely clear is what consultation requires… while Indigenous peoples may have a “special public interest,” the judgment reads, in the end that interest must be balanced against other competing societal needs.
Tags: economy, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, rights
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Beyond denial: Indigenous reconciliation requires recognition
For reconciliation to fully manifest itself in Canada, denial must be ended in all of its aspects… to guide our work we released 10 principles – Principles Respecting Canada’s Relationship with Indigenous Peoples… [to] establish a clear, transparent foundation for reconciliation based on recognition… The principles bring a new direction and standard to how government officials must work and act in partnership with Indigenous peoples
Tags: featured, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, rights
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Can we ever knock down the walls of the wealthy ghetto?
There are two factors in particular that make Canada’s cycle of privilege a closed loop that excludes outsiders. The first is Canada’s lack of an inheritance tax. Taxing inheritance heavily doesn’t generate much government revenue… It expands privilege rather than keeping it cloistered… The second is Canada’s lax policy on private schools. The 6 per cent of Canadians who attend fee-charging schools are overwhelmingly there because their families are wealthy… even though their fees and sometimes their operations are taxpayer-subsidized.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living
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How to turn Canada 150 into a celebration for everyone
The original peoples of Canada are founding nations of this country and as such need to be able to govern themselves in full equality with other Canadians. That is certainly not true of our past, or of our present. But it must become the reality of our future… The Indian Act has created a reserve and political structure that actually blocks effective governance and equality. Its continued existence makes the dream of effective sovereignty and good governance impossible.
Tags: featured, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, rights, standard of living
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