Archive for the ‘Equality’ Category
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Panic of the Plutocrats
Sunday, October 16th, 2011
October 9, 2011
Wall Street’s Masters of the Universe realize, deep down, how morally indefensible their position is… They’re people who got rich by peddling complex financial schemes that, far from delivering clear benefits to the American people, helped push us into a crisis whose aftereffects continue to blight the lives of tens of millions of their fellow citizens. Yet they have paid no price… And they benefit from tax loopholes that in many cases have people with multimillion-dollar incomes paying lower rates than middle-class families.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Happy birthday to Canadian multiculturalism
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
Oct 08 2011
Unlike in Europe, where multiculturalism-lite was left to the whim of governments, our policy is anchored in the 1982 Charter of Rights as well as the 1988 Multiculturalism Act. No government, regardless of political stripe, is going to axe that act, let alone contemplate constitutional change. There are also positive reasons for the endurance of the policy, rooted as it is in our history… The 1867 British North America Act recognized aboriginal peoples, English-speaking Protestants and French-speaking Catholics on the basis of race, language and religion. The DNA of BNA was pluralism.
Tags: ideology, multiculturalism, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality History | 2 Comments »
Landlords face no punishment for discrimination in online ads
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Oct 6, 2011
Only Muslims need apply. It’s the exact kind of specifications the Ontario Human Rights Commission recently warned landlords against putting in their online classified ads —any denial of a prospective tenant due to race, ethnic origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age and disability, among other things, is grounds for discrimination according to the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s housing policy and the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Tags: housing, multiculturalism, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Binnie’s wise words on unclogging courts
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
Sep. 28, 2011
Murder trials that once took five to seven days now take five to seven months to complete, and sometimes even last for years… Civil trials have doubled in length over 10 years, to 25.7 hours on average (she cited Vancouver figures). “As the delay increases, swift, predictable justice, which is the most powerful deterrent of crime, vanishes.”
Tags: participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Canadian teens ambivalent about gender equality
Saturday, September 24th, 2011
Sep. 22, 2011
While 90 per cent of Canadian youth said they agree gender equality is good for both men and women, nearly 45 per cent agree that “to be a man you need to be tough.”… The survey also revealed that 31 per cent of Canadian boys think a woman’s most important role is to take care of her home and cook for the family… The report of the “Because I am a girl” campaign focuses this year on young men, regarding them as part of the solution to eradicating poverty and attaining female empowerment. “Gender equality isn’t just about girls. It’s about girls and boys…”
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
Equal in poverty or prosperity?
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
Sept. 20, 2011
World Bank data show that Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Pakistan are more egalitarian than Canada. Within Canada itself, the poorer provinces are more egalitarian than the richer provinces. It’s just the same old debate with Marxist overtones: Is it better to be all equal in poverty, or unequal but more prosperous? There is no question that civilized people will choose prosperity and freedom over equality and poverty.
Tags: ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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The Enlightened Rich Want to Be Taxed
Sunday, September 18th, 2011
September 9, 2011
Some of the world’s wealthiest people are calling for higher taxes on the rich. They seem to recognize that the burden of the economic downturn cannot be borne entirely by the poor and middle class… The suggestion is motivated, no doubt, by a sense of justice — that the very rich, who have survived the financial crisis very well, should contribute more to shrinking public coffers to reduce the spending cuts that would hurt the most vulnerable. But altruism does not fully explain why members of the global elite are suddenly keen to prevent the deep budget reductions… They are also moved by what some might call enlightened self-interest.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Polarized economy, polarized politics
Sunday, September 18th, 2011
Sep 17 2011
Years of grinding away at middle-class lifestyles, and years of accumulating debt to try to maintain those lifestyles, have taken their toll on the core optimism and hope that characterized the middle-class outlook and informed its political judgments. Few people now believe their children will lead better lives than they have, in a complete reversal from the ethic that built this country… fear has become a much stronger motivator than hope. The polarization of economic outcomes will lead to a polarization of political choice. From “a rising tide will lift all boats,” we are moving to a zero-sum game.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Our self-image needs a reality check
Friday, September 16th, 2011
Sep 15 2011
Since the mid-1990s, income inequality has been rising faster in Canada than the U.S… Since 2005, our tax system has become more regressive, our social services have shrunk, our manufacturing base has deteriorated and we’ve gone through a painful recession that hit the poor hardest… There are two policy levers Canada could use to counter the trend of the last decade: We could make our tax system more progressive… We could strengthen our social programs. But both options are non-starters in Ottawa… The provinces are dismantling their disparity-fighting mechanisms. And there is no public pressure for a change of direction.
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Income inequality rising quickly in Canada
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
September 13, 2011
Canada has had the fourth-largest increase in income inequality among its peers. Between the mid-nineties and late 2000s, income inequality rose in 10 of 17 peer countries — including Canada… “Even though the U.S. currently has the largest rich-poor income gap among these countries, the gap in Canada has been rising at a faster rate,” noted Anne Golden, president and chief executive, adding that high inequality raises both “a moral question about fairness and can contribute to social tensions.”
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