Archive for the ‘Equality’ Category
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Ageism: it is real and it is wrong
Monday, August 15th, 2011
Aug 14 2011
Until November, [the Law Reform Commission] will hold public consultations for the next three months to make sure nothing is missing or misconceived. A final draft will be released in early 2012.the Law Commission of Ontario… Caregivers routinely assume seniors can’t make their own decisions. Policymakers don’t bother to consult them on issues affecting them. Health-care and social service providers withhold supports to which are entitled. People patronize them, ignore them or exclude them the life of the community.
Tags: disabilities, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
Stop Coddling the Super-Rich
Monday, August 15th, 2011
August 14, 2011
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends. I didn’t refuse, nor did others. I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Chief Justice supports criticism of Kenney
Sunday, August 14th, 2011
Aug 13, 2011
Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin applauded the Canadian Bar Association on Saturday for protesting comments Kenney made last winter, when he said Federal Court judges weren’t toeing the line of the Harper government’s immigration policies. “…one of the elements of our commitment to the rule of law is a deep, cultural belief in and confidence in the judiciary.
Tags: ideology, immigration, multiculturalism, rights
Posted in Equality Delivery System | 1 Comment »
Wealthy really are different, and not in a nice way: study
Friday, August 12th, 2011
August 11, 2011
Though economically privileged, people from upper-class backgrounds consistently display deficits in empathy, social engagement, generosity and sensitivity compared to those from the lower classes… “There’s this sense among people that all problems reside in the lower classes.. While some of that is true – they are more prone to diseases of every kind, and suffer health problems because of the difficulties in their lives – the research also points to all these wonderful strengths: greater empathy, greater altruism, greater sensitivity to others and greater attunement to the social world.”
Tags: ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Dream of affordable justice fades
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011
Aug 09 2011
Government cutbacks have forced legal aid providers to restrict their services to all but the abjectly poor… The lion’s share of the money — 75 per cent in Ontario — is earmarked for criminal cases. That means there is little to no help available to deal with family breakups, child custody wrangles, eviction orders, mortgage foreclosures and the aftermath of natural disasters.
Tags: budget, poverty, rights, standard of living
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You’re Poorer than You Think
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011
2 Aug 2011
Shaw Communications chief executive officer Jim Shaw recently retired at the age of just 53. His pension is $16,000. A day. Every day of the year. That’s almost $6 million annually… ordinary folks depend on the Canada Pension Plan, which pays a maximum of about $11,500 a year and an average of just $6,000, and any personal savings for their retirement. But a third of working-age Canadians don’t have a Registered Retirement Savings Plan or similar investments. And those with an RRSP will only get on average less than $300 a month when they finish working.
Tags: economy, ideology, pensions, rights, standard of living
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Mapping a New Course to Defeat Tuberculosis
Monday, August 8th, 2011
Canada’s TB incidence rate was 4.8 cases for every 100,000 people in 2009, a bit better than Australia (6.4 per 100,000) and a bit worse than the U.S. (4.1 per 100,000). …TB in some of Canada’s First Nations communities is far more prevalent. The rate among Aboriginals living on reserves, in fact, is 31 times higher than among non-Aboriginal Canadians, while among the Inuit the rate is 185 times higher… “Tuberculosis is fundamentally a flag for poverty… and that it’s highly prevalent among the reservations and among the Inuit is just the most graphic evidence of the extent of the disparity.”
Tags: Health, Indigenous, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
‘Do you have running water? I don’t and I live in Canada’
Thursday, July 28th, 2011
Jul. 28, 2011
For the past decade, Ottawa has consistently opposed recognizing the right to water and sanitation. The Harper government voted to abstain when the General Assembly vote took place, and then argued (incorrectly) that the resolution is not binding… with an enforceable obligation, the government would likely face extensive liability with respect to the terrible drinking water and sanitation conditions in so many first nations communities. There are at least 49 “high risk” aboriginal communities in Canada with little access to clean water and more than 100 facing “boil water” advisories
Tags: Health, Indigenous, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Gap between rich and rest growing
Thursday, July 28th, 2011
July 27, 2011
The Conference Board found that between 1976 and 1994, the tax and transfer system increasingly reduced income inequality. But since 1994, the trend reversed. Tax and transfer policies played a role in increasing the income gap… A widening income gap isn’t inevitable. The Conference Board found Canada had among the highest income gaps among peer countries, ranking 12th out of 17. Many of the more equal countries had equally strong economies. This should be a central political and social issue for Canadians.
Tags: economy, participation, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Rising income inequality undermines Canadian success
Monday, July 25th, 2011
July 18, 2011
…the Conference Board of Canada, issued a report warning that too much inequality could actually sap economic growth, wasting some people’s skills and undermining social cohesion. …the big contributor to income inequality was at the top. It will be hard to rein in the corporate greedfest, but we might want to look to the countries that have figured out how to create high standards of living without such corrosively huge inequality. If Denmark, Sweden and Austria can be rich societies that remain much more fair, surely Canadians aren’t so dumb that we can’t learn from their successes.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
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