Archive for the ‘Governance Debates’ Category
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Remember when the Liberal carbon tax was a conservative idea?
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2019
They’re an economically logical, pro-market way of lowering greenhouse-gas emissions. A way of using prices – the basic mechanism of free markets – to reduce pollution. A way of putting billions of small environmental decisions in the hands of millions of people, rather than handing them over to a big government bureaucracy. And a way to tax something societies need less of, namely pollution, while lowering taxes on things we all want more of, like business investment and personal income.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, tax
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As usual, Doug Ford has it wrong on carbon tax
Tuesday, April 2nd, 2019
… the real threat to our long-term future is precisely what the carbon tax is designed to head off — climate change… Economists of all political stripes agree that a carbon tax is the most effective way to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions… the way the government has structured it, most people stand to come out ahead once they’ve collected their tax rebate. The idea… is to raise the price of carbon-intensive activities and give people a financial incentive to reduce them.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
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Doug Ford will axe the tax — except his own stealth carbon tax
Thursday, March 28th, 2019
Ontario will mark April Fools’ Day with a few strange stunts… shuttering the office of Ontario’s environmental commissioner, ending a quarter-century of independent oversight… paying more than $30 million in legal bills out of the pockets of Ontario taxpayers to fight the federal government that also represents them… Our premier is waging a loud battle against the federal carbon tax in court, while simultaneously proposing his own stealth carbon tax at home.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, standard of living
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What Canadians need to know about the SNC-Lavalin affair
Friday, March 22nd, 2019
It is important to remind Canadians that the justice committee is not a court. We are neither a tryer of fact or a jury… We need to formulate clear rules as to appropriate interactions with the attorney-general as relates to prosecutions and remediation agreement considerations.
Tags: crime prevention, rights
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Federal Budget Response 2019
Wednesday, March 20th, 2019
On pharmacare: “Today’s measures don’t fulfill the bold promises of national pharmacare including hundreds of dollars of savings per family in both insurance and out-of-pocket drug costs. / On decent work and skills training:… workers are now being asked to pay for their own training. / On housing: “… Taking out new loans from CMHC or retirement savings doesn’t make housing more affordable–it just allows for another source of debt financing that must be repaid. / What’s missing: Funding for a national child care plan
Tags: budget, economy, Health, housing, ideology, pharmaceutical, youth
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SNC-Lavalin is a sideshow to the real Wilson-Raybould issue
Saturday, March 16th, 2019
We should all stop simpering, shut down the Indigenous grievance racket, devise a serious reform policy and stop acting like pathetic apologists for the brave and good people who built this country, the Aboriginal people first among them… The natives have entirely legitimate grievances and we have to address them, but not by throwing money at undemocratic leaders and accepting the blood libel that we are the descendants of barbarians.
Tags: budget, ideology, Indigenous, rights
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Property taxes are the obvious solution to Toronto’s revenue crisis
Saturday, March 2nd, 2019
John Tory… is kicking the can down the road by deferring maintenance and raiding reserves. The favourite answer of local politicians is Ottawa and Queen’s Park. But those governments can — and do — point to the fact that we refuse to collect taxes at a rate anywhere near that of our neighbours. Why would they fund us if we won’t fund ourselves?
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction
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Fiscal Transparency: How the Federal Government Can Get an A+
Friday, March 1st, 2019
To start, make the key numbers in the 2019 budget easy to find: up front, and clearly identified… produce estimates that matched the budget and the financial statements… the 2018 budget’s reconciliation of its projections with the anticipated estimates was unclear and incomplete… Timely reporting helps legislators and citizens spot – and, if needed, demand action to correct – deviations from plans that make no sense and/or threaten the fiscal plan.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living
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‘Yada yada yada’ isn’t the problem. It’s Ford’s autism policy
Sunday, February 24th, 2019
MacLeod can call this a “fair, equitable and sustainable” system all she wants, but that doesn’t make it a good one. Or a system that provides kids with autism, especially those on the high needs end of the spectrum, access and funding to services they desperately need. But in the face of mounting evidence that this policy is deeply misguided and won’t achieve its stated outcomes, the Ford government has reacted the way it usually does — claiming victory anyway.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, ideology, mental Health, participation, standard of living, youth
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Doug Ford surprises – by not gutting police oversight
Thursday, February 21st, 2019
confidence in the police, according to the Ford government, was undermined by a stillborn law that never got to impose steep fines on officers who refused to co-operate with the SIU, and never made it slightly easier to fire them for misconduct or incompetence. And so, the Ford government has now tabled the Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act – yes, the COPS Act. The government is pitching it as a radical overhaul of Liberal police oversight, to make it more fair to police. Spoiler alert: It’s mostly not.
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, rights
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