Archive for the ‘Governance Debates’ Category
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Ford government’s budget shortfall soars to $9.8 billion as tax revenues plunge
Wednesday, March 27th, 2024
“… We are going to follow through on a plan that is working — knowing that the higher deficits, compared to what we projected last year, will be time-limited while the return on investment will be felt for decades.” … settlements with public servants after the government’s Bill 124 wage-cap legislation was found to be unconstitutional have added billions in additional costs to the treasury. Under Ford, the provincial debt has soared by $116 billion to $462.9 billion, the largest debt of any subnational jurisdiction in the world.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
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Is starving Ontario’s hospitals and schools really something to brag about?
Tuesday, March 26th, 2024
In the last five years, the Ministry of Finance has brought in close to 30 measures to reduce its own revenues. All told, those changes drained no less than $7.7 billion from the provincial treasury in 2023-24… The overarching goal is not to use public dollars efficiently, it’s to drive economic activity into the private sector so investors can turn a profit. This is why the current Ontario government has no qualms about privatizing surgeries and diagnostic procedures — even though private procedures can cost more than double what they cost in a public hospital.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, privatization, tax
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So, what expenditures should Canada cut to meet its NATO obligations?
Thursday, March 21st, 2024
About a quarter of all spending is transferred directly to Canadians, either through elderly benefits (Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement), Employment Insurance benefits and the Canada Child Benefit… Another 20 per cent of Ottawa’s spending is transferred directly to the provincial governments… Equalization payments account for about $24-billion… Interest payments on the debt account for another $47-billion… while Ottawa’s total spending is $500-billion, only $96-billion in operating spending is discretionary
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
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Canadians could have a balanced budget and better tax system: C.D. Howe Institute Shadow Budget
Tuesday, February 27th, 2024
Beyond reducing the debt burden to a level that is prudent and more fair to younger Canadians, the authors advocate tax changes to reward work and investment… The Shadow Budget proposes restoring the GST to 7 percent over time, lowering the rate for the middle personal income tax bracket to 15 percent in 2027, and lowering the general corporate income tax rate by one percentage point in 2025 and another in 2026.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology
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The crisis hitting small-town Ontario
Saturday, February 24th, 2024
Communities across the province are grappling with overdoses and appealing for more resources to deal with the crisis… According to the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, the opioid death rate is three times higher in northern than southern Ontario… While we often hear complaints about the lack of sufficient treatment and harm reduction facilities in large cities like Toronto, smaller communities are lucky if they have any at all.
Tags: crime prevention, Health, jurisdiction, mental Health, standard of living
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Surrendering to the provinces doesn’t bring peace to the federation. It only emboldens them
Wednesday, January 10th, 2024
The thesis… that peace with the provinces is the highest aim of federal policy, and that the way to achieve it is to give them everything they want – or at least to never give them any offence – is a recipe for national paralysis. There are issues on which federal leadership is essential… how we got here [is] not because the federal government has been too hard on the provinces, but because it has been altogether too indulgent of them.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, rights
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Seeking common ground at the Thanksgiving table
Friday, October 6th, 2023
We need to understand that the anger that folks are feeling… is based on real issues – even if the target of that anger is, to put it charitably, misplaced. That misdirection is often fed by politicians, capitalists, and the well-funded propagandists whose job is to keep the working majority squabbling amongst ourselves… we also have a responsibility to try to move the needle a little bit towards justice.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, housing, immigration, tax
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Pierre Poilievre: Same old guy, same old policies
Thursday, September 14th, 2023
Despite all the hype about his image makeover and how he’s a changed man… he continues to fuel the rage and hate that resides in many of his hard-line followers who despise Trudeau, the federal government and, in many cases, anything that they believe restricts their “freedom.” … his lack of policy specifics to date on key issues facing Canada is stunning.
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, privatization, standard of living, tax
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How to Defeat Poilievre’s Politics of Abandonment
Thursday, September 14th, 2023
For Poilievre freedom itself is conceived in opposition to government… The profit motive is what drives efficiency, no matter what “good” is being considered. Privatization then — whether in health or seniors care, housing, child care or transit — is the solution to the rising costs of living. The individual trumps the collective, competition trumps co-operation, private interests are king. Never mind that unregulated capitalism traps many in lives robbed of freedoms from want and drudgery.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, tax
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Liberals’ fortunes hinge on Holland’s pharmacare: coalition director
Thursday, September 14th, 2023
“Only a single-payer Pharmacare system will achieve the savings, efficiencies and fairness that is the hallmark of Canadian Medicare. Anything less will be unacceptable to Canadians and the NDP,” NDP health critic Don Davies declared in June, backing the view of Dr. Eric Hoskins. Public health care experts and organizations like the Canadian Health Coalition, and every commission that’s looked at the problem, agree.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, pharmaceutical, standard of living
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