Archive for the ‘Governance Debates’ Category
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Ottawa should change tax rules to encourage donations to charity
Thursday, February 21st, 2019
… the Trudeau government… should broaden the tax exemption on capital gains for charitable donations. It can do that by giving the same tax treatment to donations of shares in private companies and real estate as is now given to gifts of publicly traded shares. Experts who have looked at this idea estimate it would result in additional donations to charities of about $200 million a year. That’s a big chunk of change that would go to organizations like the United Way and local hospital foundations.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, philanthropy, tax
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MacLeod needs to build on past successes
Wednesday, February 20th, 2019
… the needs of children with autism… and the needs of their families are complex, treatments are evolving and no one has yet gotten it perfect… It may feel good in the moment to suggest that everything past was wrong but that kind of thinking does children a disservice and that is what should matter to us all… If we don’t even try to build on what has been successful in the past, if we don’t even try to listen to each other and the people on the front line, in this case the parents, then we are bound to fail spectacularly.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, ideology, mental Health, participation, standard of living, youth
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Toronto needs to pay for the needs of a major metropolis
Sunday, February 17th, 2019
… spending is low. A few shrill voices on the right squawk on about waste at City Hall, but the facts show the city is actually spending less per resident now than it did back in 2010, when the figures are adjusted for inflation… But how does Toronto compare to other cities? One measure is the annual growth in spending over the past few years, and there it turns out Toronto ranks right near the bottom — 27th out of 29 Ontario cities listed in a Fraser Institute survey last fall.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living, tax
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The Ford government needs to stop its bully tactics
Friday, February 15th, 2019
A government that has genuinely and openly consulted with affected groups, ahead of making changes, and believes its new policy can stand up to fair public scrutiny doesn’t run around demanding unknowing and unconditional support… it can be difficult for people and vulnerable groups that rely heavily on provincial policies or funding to speak out against the government of the day. But this government’s bully tactics seem to have pushed them into doing just that.
Tags: budget, child care, disabilities, featured, ideology, mental Health, participation, standard of living
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Thank God for Canada!
Thursday, February 7th, 2019
For aid programs in the developing world… Canada champions programs that are extremely cost-effective but so deathly boring that they will never be discussed on TV — initiatives like iodizing salt to prevent mental impairment…. Off the ice, Canadians pursue policies that are preternaturally sensible. Canadians regulate guns, oversee the banking sector so as to avoid financial crashes, and nurture entrepreneurship and economic growth without enormous inequality.
Tags: featured, globalization, ideology, immigration, multiculturalism, rights, women
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Countering political disinformation campaigns requires transparency
Thursday, January 31st, 2019
… if the purpose is to catch foreign efforts to sway the campaign with disinformation and divisive message, the definition of political ads is too narrow. Those Russian-paid ads didn’t always mention a candidate or a party. A real effort to try to counter disinformation campaigns would require some broadly open-source transparency for a larger class of paid messages. The big social-media companies seem to believe that clashes with their business model.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, privatization, rights
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Canada must set a higher bar on data protection in an era of ‘surveillance capitalism’
Thursday, January 31st, 2019
Companies should protect the data they manage, not exploit it. Every individual should own their own data. It should be yours, and yours only. Data protection and security should be paramount. Privacy should be embedded by design in the development of products and services… Now is the time for a robust discussion between policy-makers and the tech sector about how much regulatory oversight is needed, both to protect privacy and to spur innovation and competition.
Tags: crime prevention, globalization, participation, rights
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Freedom and democracy cannot exist without privacy
Monday, January 28th, 2019
In December, AI ethics researchers released the Montreal Declaration for the Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence — a set of 10 principles for developers and organizations that implement AI, as well as the individuals subject to it… public authorities now need to act. Governments and legislators in particular have an important role to play in drawing on ethical principles to create an enforceable legal framework for AI that formally requires relevant actors to act fairly and responsibly.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, rights
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Why democracy is in trouble, and what Canadians can do about it
Wednesday, January 16th, 2019
The less attention communities pay to how they are governed, the easier it is to intrude on the rule of law, the rights of minorities, or threaten the values that we do share… So what can Canadians do to shift these trends? It starts with recognizing democracy is about more than elections… “democracy is a verb”… it can be cultivated, grown and improved upon… start conversations, build networks, invest in skills development, mobilize communities and get people to take notice.
Tags: ideology, participation, standard of living
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Ford flirts with private health care at his peril
Monday, January 14th, 2019
Ford’s election pledges to axe cap-and-trade and implement tax giveaways that overwhelmingly benefit high income earners and corporations will cost approximately $22 billion. That’s $22 billion less for health, education, roads, transit, housing, parks and so on: among the most severe cuts in our history. We anticipate these cuts to start in earnest after the federal election. They will almost certainly result in privatization, if we do not stop them.
Tags: budget, ideology, mental Health, participation
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