Archive for the ‘Governance’ Category
To save Canada, Mark Carney is courting foreign money. He’s risking an ‘investment invasion’
Tuesday, September 15th, 2026
The aim is simple: build Canadian assets, don’t just buy them. Assets aren’t only physical. They include the human capital that drives the economy. The terms we negotiate determine whether public or private interests prevail. But terms mean little without enforcement.
The details determine whether the deal creates value for Canadians or extracts it. The investment invasion coming to Canada may have a polished look, but keep your eye on the price-tag.
Tags: economy, Health, ideology
Posted in Governance Debates | 8 Comments »
Why simplifying Canada’s tax code is about social trust, not just saving money
Saturday, August 22nd, 2026
Economic researchers at the University of Calgary have developed a framework to evaluate what happens when a government undertakes a tax reform, and they are taking a broad view of the social returns of tax… “Administrative reform can enhance fairness and trust, but if designed or evaluated narrowly through cost and yield metrics, it can deepen distributional inequities and erode public confidence”… The first plank is measuring the social return per administrative dollar spent…
Tags: budget, economy, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | 26 Comments »
Beyond yes or no: Why Indigenous consent to resource projects is so complex
Tuesday, August 18th, 2026
Cultural recognition also shows up in the promotion of Indigenous identity, support — financial and otherwise — for certain practices and partial recognition of sacred sites. Still, it remains selective and conditional, contingent on its compatibility with mining operations.
Economic recognition, meanwhile, is a central dimension in its own right, going beyond mere monetary compensation to reshape communities’ social status.
Tags: economy, Indigenous, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | 1 Comment »
How come it takes a right-wing convoy for courts to uphold law and order?
Friday, August 14th, 2026
“Protesters intimidate, harass and exclude others, while claiming their Charter right to ‘free expression and peaceful assembly’ prevents police from laying charges. To date, various police forces have tacitly agreed, limiting charges to actual physical violence or threats. Lax enforcement has emboldened protesters, leading to groups marching in residential neighbourhoods, chanting hateful rhetoric.”
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, jurisdiction, rights
Posted in Governance Policy Context | 7 Comments »
New Ontario water and sanitation law could pave the way for the financialization of public water
Wednesday, May 13th, 2026
Whether the WCA leads to outright privatization, its proposed reforms are consistent with an insidious global push to make municipal water and sanitation systems more amenable to private investment. This essentially transforms them into tradeable assets. This process, known as financialization, would erode the public health and social mandate of public water infrastructure, undermining the capacity of communities to cope with growing ecological and financial stresses.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | 34 Comments »
When Canada negotiates with Donald Trump’s America, it’s not just trade that’s at stake. It’s our sovereignty
Wednesday, May 6th, 2026
… CUSMA… does not just regulate trade. It restricts what Parliament can legislate, what regulators can require and what courts can enforce… Canada needs to govern its own digital economy. We need sovereignty over data, accountability for algorithms, and protection of critical digital infrastructure… We have just under sixty days until we move dangerously close to becoming the fifty-first state. We can still reverse course, but only if we act before the review’s July 1 Canada Day deadline.
Tags: economy, globalization, jurisdiction, rights
Posted in Governance Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Toronto will host the world’s investors this fall. But will any investment end up in health care, education or transit?
Wednesday, May 6th, 2026
What’s most disappointing about the prevailing preoccupation with making Canada an industrial and energy superpower is that this vision of Canada’s future ignores necessary investments in social goods — namely, health care, education, affordable housing and public transit. All of those are essential to Canada’s future prosperity. And all are underfunded… Striving for greater industrial sovereignty is a worthwhile ambition. But it can’t come at the expense of social investments that underpin Canadians’ well-being.
Tags: budget, Education, Health, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | 29 Comments »
Mark Carney has forgotten who helped get him elected
Sunday, May 3rd, 2026
Headlines like “A Canada for All” sound nice. As do statements like: “the government is protecting the essential social programs that give Canadians a fair chance to get ahead — child care, dental care, and pharmacare.” But dig into the details and you learn national pharmacare is ending. There is no new money to create more child care spaces. Federal health-care spending is drastically being cut… There is effectively no new money in Carney’s fiscal plan to support what he calls “essential social programs.”
Tags: budget, child care, featured, Health, housing, jurisdiction, poverty
Posted in Governance Debates | 9 Comments »
I’m giving the CRA an extra $1 million this year. Here’s why
Thursday, April 30th, 2026
Patriotic Millionaires recently commissioned new polling that found among Canadians with more than $1 million in assets (not including their homes), 71 per cent believe extreme wealth concentration is a threat to democracy, 62 per cent believe government leaders should do more to address it, and 65 per cent believe that governments should raise taxes on the very wealthy. .. Extreme wealth inequality is not inevitable. It’s the result of policy choices, and we can choose differently.
Tags: economy, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Doug Ford’s push for secrecy is putting the health of Ontarians at risk
Monday, April 13th, 2026
It’s Ontarians who bear the consequences when governments grant themselves the power to be unaccountable. It’s Ontarians who endure longer ER and surgical wait times. It’s Ontarians who are left wondering where their tax dollars have gone — as leaders secretly spend public funds… Here’s what Ontario should be doing: Legislate bans on FOI carve-outs so politicians cannot simply write themselves out of oversight… Secrecy breaks the basic social contract — not only of health care, but of democracy itself.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | 8 Comments »
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