Archive for the ‘Equality’ Category
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Aboriginals need help: AG
Sunday, January 2nd, 2011
January 2, 2011
Fraser’s audits have highlighted key issues facing First Nations: the significant education gap between reserves and the rest of Canada, the high numbers of aboriginal children in state care, the lack of safe drinking water on reserves and the excessive reporting requirements to federal officials… “Why is the quality of life for thousands of individuals and communities so disparate from the rest of Canada? We can’t just accept that without explanation. And once we know where some of the answers lie, what are we prepared to do about it, as Canadians?”
Tags: budget, Indigenous, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Is income inequality just business as usual?
Thursday, December 30th, 2010
Dec. 20, 2010
There has been a sea of change in inequality in Canada over the course of the past 20 to 30 years. For most of the 20th century inequality in Canada – and in virtually all developed nations, actually – had been declining. By the 1980s that long term trend reversed. First because of recessions (where the bottom end of the spectrum lost ground) then because of rowth (when the top part of the income spectrum zoomed ahead). So for the past generation inequality has grown in Canada, in good times and bad.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Canada discovers trickle-up economics
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010
Dec 28 2010
While some degree of inequality is inevitable and even desirable (allowing bigger rewards for those making bigger contributions), the level of inequality that exists today in the Anglo-American countries — the United States, Britain and Canada — is extreme, and almost unique in the advanced world… virtually all the income growth in the last 30 years has gone to the top… The impact on Canada’s social fabric is huge and likely to grow
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | 7 Comments »
Ontario urged to take on silencing lawsuits
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
Dec. 22, 2010
The Ontario government should crack down on lawsuits filed by developers or corporations that are designed to silence opposition from activists or the public, a blue-ribbon panel of legal experts says… The recommendations for Ontario Attorney-General Chris Bentley, released to Tuesday, say the province should follow in the footsteps of Quebec and about half of the states in the U.S. and craft anti-SLAPP legislation. Under the recommendations, the proposed law would protect “all communications on matters of public interest.”
Tags: ideology, pensions, rights
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The Children that Fortune Forgot
Sunday, December 19th, 2010
December 13, 2010
UNICEF released a report titled The Children Left Behind: A League Table of Inequality in Child Well-Being in the World’s Richest Countries that is summed… the United States sits right at the bottom of the OECD nations… The richest nation in the world (for now) is also the one with significant disparity between the top and the bottom. Above all else, the characterizations about the American poor being ‘lazy’ must come to an end. It has contributed to a growing misunderstanding of poverty that has global implications (ie. American aid and welfare policies).
Tags: child care, Health, ideology, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
The big difference [tax distribution]
Saturday, December 18th, 2010
Dec. 17, 2010
Most of the middle class have moved down, not away… In this recession, many people who have been laid off can’t find replacement jobs. They’ve become statistically invisible – moved in with parents or gone on the rising rates of social assistance. Maybe the big difference since the 1970s has been a change in attitude toward fair tax redistribution. This is the most effective way to reduce poverty. All it takes is political will.
Tags: ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
How economic inequality eats away at society
Friday, December 17th, 2010
Dec 17 2010
… the wider the gap between rich and poor: • The higher the incidence of drug addiction. • The higher the dropout rate. • The higher the concentration of adolescent gangs. • The higher the prison population. • The higher the rate of teen pregnancy… Wilkinson was in Toronto recently to talk about his research and urge Canadians to spread the message that great extremes of wealth, status and power eat away at a society. “It may look as if Canada is in the middle of the pack… [but] You’re rapidly becoming more unequal than most OECD countries”.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Shelving CPP expansion, Flaherty pitches private-sector retirement plan
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
The Finance Minister’s call for modest enhancements to the Canada Pension Plan is moving to the backburner as Ottawa was unable to convince enough provinces to get on board. Instead, Jim Flaherty said there is a willingness to move ahead with a new privately-run option targeted at workers who are either self-employed or who work for a company that doesn’t offer a pension. The minister said he hopes the proposed Pooled Registered Pension Plan will be attractive to companies that previously felt high management costs prevented them from offering their employees a pension.
Tags: ideology, pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates, Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Smear of First Nations over chiefs’ salaries overlooks facts
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
Dec 15 2010
While I can find no excuse for the high salaries of chiefs recently reported by the news media, I understand certain contexts that likely are unfamiliar to reporters… It is not my chief and council’s salaries that are keeping our young men and women mired in self-doubt and looking to their future with trepidation rather than hope. If, in fact, First Nations were allowed to manage our communities through agreements extracted from Indian Affairs policy and funding mechanisms, you would see hope come back to our community…
Tags: budget, Indigenous, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
Some pigs are more equal than others
Sunday, December 12th, 2010
Dec. 10, 2010
The Spirit Level… makes a good case for the “pernicious effects that inequality has on societies: eroding trust, increasing anxiety and illness and encouraging excessive consumption.” For each of eleven different health and social issues – physical and mental well-being, education, imprisonment, obesity, social mobility, trust and community life, violence, teenage pregnancies and child well-being – greater inequality is a substantial risk factor.
Tags: featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
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