Archive for the ‘Governance’ Category
Canada has to defend this vital part of its infrastructure from America. Here are three steps Mark Carney can take
Wednesday, January 7th, 2026
With their astronomical wealth, tech companies use extraordinary, undemocratic means to shape policy conversations in favour of consolidating US power… First, Canada needs a new digital strategy and charter to meet the moment… Second, Canada must identify and secure the most critical digital systems and data from foreign control… Third, Canada must stop giving away leverage to the U.S… Digital sovereignty does not arrive by surrender.
Tags: economy, globalization, jurisdiction, privatization, sovereignty, tax
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Could a national, public ‘CanGPT’ be Canada’s answer to ChatGPT?
Friday, November 28th, 2025
… what if AI were developed as a public utility rather than as a commercial service? Canada’s long history with public service media — namely the CBC and Radio-Canada — offers a useful model for thinking about how AI could serve the public amid growing calls for a public interest approach to AI policy.
Tags: Education, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, privatization
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I’ve studied housing for over 15 years. These Canadian towns are showing us how to fix the crisis
Tuesday, November 25th, 2025
Too often we frame housing simply as a question of how much we need and defer to the market to build it. Instead, we need to focus on what kind of housing and for whom… The crux of the problem is that housing currently serves two conflicting goals: as shelter and a human right for all; and a commodity from which to make money for some.
Tags: featured, homelessness, housing, ideology, jurisdiction
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How Mark Carney’s federal budget would impact your taxes, from automatic tax filing to axing luxury tax
Monday, November 10th, 2025
The 2025 federal budget proposes lowering the first marginal personal income tax rate to 14.5 per cent in 2025 and automatically filing taxes for 1 million low-income Canadians by 2027. First-time homebuyers could receive a GST rebate up to $50,000 on some new homes, while the Underused Housing Tax would be eliminated. The budget also proposes eliminating luxury taxes on some boats and aircraft
Tags: budget, economy, featured, jurisdiction, tax
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It’s time to admit our Charter rights are under attack
Tuesday, November 4th, 2025
Too many premiers are testing citizens’ willingness to accept gross power grabs, the targeting of vulnerable groups for political purposes, the weakening of groups they dislike, by invoking the notwithstanding clause… Are they seeking to normalize its use? To normalize breaches of rights? … “What we’re seeing is an erosion of that very, very basic principle of human rights as a way to structure relations in society, and provide a check on government power”
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, multiculturalism, rights
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When governments trample on our rights, the courts must be free to weigh in. Full stop
Tuesday, September 30th, 2025
Can courts still declare whether a law that’s subject to the notwithstanding clause is unconstitutional? Doing so would have no effect on the law’s operation as long as the notwithstanding clause applied, but as a judicial declaration, it would constitute an authoritative statement, alerting the press and general public to active government efforts to violate Canadians’ rights.
Tags: featured, ideology, jurisdiction, rights
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If the notwithstanding clause is the nuclear option, Ottawa should respond proportionately
Monday, September 22nd, 2025
… the original constitutional bargain, the one at our founding in 1867, was that the federal government would be the defender of rights against the depredations of local majorities. And the instrument of that defence… was to be the disallowance power… Disallowance, to be sure, has lately fallen into disuse. So, for more than 30 years, had notwithstanding. That has not prevented provincial governments from reviving it; neither should the mere passage of time prevent Ottawa from invoking disallowance.
Tags: featured, ideology, jurisdiction, rights
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The three fiscal taboos Canada can no longer afford
Saturday, September 6th, 2025
Federal health and social transfers have also long outlived their usefulness: where once conditional transfers might have been needed as a catalyst for national standards, today they are among the main obstacles to health care reform; Restoring the two points to the GST… would leave it no higher than it was 20 years ago, and far lower than in most countries with similar taxes; … those at the top paying more in tax, overall… on their stock options… capital gains… dividend tax credits
Tags: budget, economy, featured, tax
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What do we get for our low taxes and supposed affordability measures? A less healthy, fractured country
Thursday, July 17th, 2025
If Canada were in the European Union… we would be in the bottom fifth for taxes… Recent polling shows Canadians are overwhelmingly supportive of a wealth tax… Now, a new group of Canadians called ”Patriotic Millionaires” are calling for higher taxes on the wealthy… While it may be true that the only certain things in life are death and taxes, it is also true taxes help us live better — and healthier — lives.
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
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Don’t be fooled by big numbers—Ontario budget fails to address years-long funding shortfalls
Thursday, July 10th, 2025
Underfunding trends persist in total program spending, education, post-secondary education, and health. Public services provide the support Ontarians need and good jobs that support the economy—investing in them is the best way to shield the province. But that’s not happening. On the job protection front, we expect more—much more—given the alarming job losses we’re already witnessing. The 2025 budget fails to grasp the importance of protecting workers, not only for their families’ sake, but also as a mitigating strategy that prevents a deep recession.
Tags: budget, economy, Education, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
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