Archive for the ‘Equality’ Category
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Hey Occupy, what about the 20%?
Sunday, September 2nd, 2012
September 01, 2012
… public-sector workers now make nearly a third more than their private-sector colleagues when pay, perks and hours of work are factored in… But perhaps the biggest gap between public and private employees comes in their pensions… governments pump more than twice as much per employee into their workers’ pensions as private-sector employers do… yet, even with all this extra money, public-pensions plans are hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. They couldn’t even come close to paying all the pension money they’ve promised without enormous subsidies from taxpayers.
Tags: budget, pensions, privatization, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Ontario has greatest rise in rich-poor gap in Canada: report
Saturday, September 1st, 2012
Aug. 29 2012
The report by the Ontario Common Front puts the province at the bottom of the pack when it comes to funding and access to public programs and services ranging from health care to education and justice to disability benefits… The report says the austerity budget brought in this year by Premier Dalton McGuinty to fight a $15-billion deficit will worsen the province’s record in spite of the Liberal government’s promise to eliminate poverty… Over the last generation, from 1981 to 2010, Ontario experienced the largest change in income inequality of any province in Canada, the report says. During the same period, it says Ontario had the country’s second highest increase in the poverty rate.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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First Nations must be partners, not an afterthought
Monday, August 27th, 2012
22 August 2012
The old approach of limited, back-end consultation must be swept away. It only leads to frustration, injunctions and conflict. The new standard, as articulated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, is “free, prior and informed consent.” From a practical standpoint, this means “engage early and engage often” with First Nations – right from conception to the last spike… Together, we can create the conditions for shared success.
Tags: economy, Indigenous, participation, rights, standard of living
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Make the rich pay? Not in Canada
Monday, August 27th, 2012
17 August 2012
Canada remains remarkably generous towards its well-paid senior executives, public and private. They may make costly mistakes with taxpayers’ money, squander the life savings of their investors, but they still walk away with huge bonuses… Leaving aside instances of fraud, or incompetence, there is an underlying problem with executive compensation in Canada: salaries, bonuses, and severance packages are increasingly unrelated to performance, to economic reality, to the pressures faced by ordinary Canadians.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Delivery System | 1 Comment »
Senator Art Eggleton tries a new tack in his fight against poverty
Sunday, August 26th, 2012
16 August 2012
A Call to Action on Poverty, a massive report by the Senate subcommittee on cities… was loaded with facts, figures and heart-rending stories. It made affordable recommendations… Audiences listened but they didn’t take up the cause… This spring…[Eggleton] talked about inequality. He showed how the widening income gulf between the rich and the rest of society was jeopardizing economic growth, stoking intergenerational tension, breeding urban violence and stifling hope. His message finally hit home.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Ottawa needs to help mind the health gap
Sunday, August 26th, 2012
15 August 2012
Through improvements to housing, water quality, education and other social services, Ottawa could help lessen the incidence of costly illnesses such as adult-onset diabetes, heart disease, depression and stroke – ultimately saving the system money. Less direct, but also important, is the federal government’s role in public health, by which it can try to counterbalance some of the underlying factors in the socioeconomic gap.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
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Public needs improved access to Canadian courts, chief justice says
Saturday, August 25th, 2012
11 August 2012
The chief justice of Canada’s Supreme Court says the legal system risks a loss of public faith unless barriers to public access to the courts, especially for civil matters, are lowered… “Being able to access justice is fundamental to the rule of law. If people decide they can’t get justice, they will have less respect for the law”… the issue is especially relevant to civil courts, where there are not enough judges, lawyers are expensive… and there are delays.
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
First Nations want property rights, but on our own terms
Friday, August 24th, 2012
10 August 2012
First Nations are in a period of nation-building or rebuilding, taking back control of our lives after years of colonial rule and being governed as wards of the state by Canada under the Indian Act. Our nations are considering how they govern themselves (their core institutions of government) and what they govern (their jurisdictions). Central to this discussion is determining an appropriate system of land tenure that reflects a particular nation’s culture and traditions while also supporting the development of an economy.
Tags: economy, featured, housing, ideology, Indigenous, rights
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Natives deserve same property rights as all Canadians
Friday, August 24th, 2012
9 August 2012
On reserves, land is owned by the Crown, which in turn permits First Nations to use it for their collective use. Houses typically are built and maintained by bands or bureaucrats — with no economic input from (or equity for) the occupants. It is an artificial, Soviet-style arrangement… this isn’t because Ottawa is nickel-and-diming Canada’s native reserves. Rather, it’s a function of the perverse economic incentives facing the natives who live in those homes.
Tags: economy, housing, ideology, Indigenous, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Women never said ‘we wanted it all’
Thursday, August 23rd, 2012
8 August 2012
Millions of women cannot afford to care for the children they have, work dead-end jobs, and cannot begin to imagine living the life of a superwoman. These are the women that the radical women’s liberation movement addressed and for whom they sought decent jobs, sustainable wages and government training, social services and child care. These are the women who are stuck on the sticky floor, not held back by a glass ceiling.
Tags: ideology, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
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