Archive for the ‘Governance Debates’ Category
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
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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
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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
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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
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The 2026 Ontario budget neglects core provincial responsibilities
Monday, March 30th, 2026
The 2026 budget—much like previous budgets—fails to address the underfunding of health care, K-12 education, post-secondary education, community and social services, and rental and social housing—the core responsibilities of provincial governments. Despite reports showing that Ontario lags behind most provinces in most of these areas, this year’s budget makes no attempt to close those gaps.
Tags: budget, Education, featured, Health, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, tax
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Protected from voters’ wrath, Doug Ford’s latest budget defies fiscal reality
Friday, March 27th, 2026
Ford’s Tories have slashed traditional revenue sources by billions of dollars in good times — licence plate fees, gas taxes and tolls for drivers — only to drive the government deeper into deficit and debt… In the latest budget, those interest payments are now the Ford government’s fourth-biggest expenditure — after health care (41 per cent), education (16.7 per cent) and social services (8.8 per cent)…
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, tax
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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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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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