Archive for the ‘Governance Debates’ Category
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Another budget, another contemptuous Tory omnibus bill
The Conservatives have tabled whoppers of more than 450 pages three times. In 2010, they dropped an 880-pager on Parliament… The latest Conservative one, eight times as long, should go to a number of committees for proper study – Public Safety and National Security, Veterans Affairs, Finance, for example. Instead, it will be pushed through the Commons, a single committee and an obliging Senate before Parliament rises in June. In doing so, the Conservatives will further cement an ugly precedent.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
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Mel Hurtig’s wake-up call for Canada’s democracy
Hurtig writes that “not only does Stephen Harper demonstrate a lack of respect for the democratic foundations of our nation, all indications are that he is determined to undermine or destroy them. Information is withheld, dissent is stifled and the checks and balances on government power are eroded or eliminated.”… the only way to stop Harper is for the Liberals and NDP to form a coalition “for the sake of restoring our democracy and indeed, our civil society”
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living, tax
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Alberta never really was all that conservative
The left is winning. They are raising taxes, they are running deficits, they are adding whole new government programs, like carbon trading or the Ontario pension plan — all things they were told were politically impossible. Of what comparable victory can the right boast in recent years? In what important way has government become smaller? What industry has been deregulated? What Crown corporation has been privatized? What corporate subsidy has been eliminated?
Tags: economy, featured, ideology
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Justin Trudeau takes mildly progressive stance
For a decade, Canadians have watched helplessly as the richest 1 per cent of the population has increased its share of the nation’s incomes. Their government, ideologically driven to cut taxes and unleash market forces, has done nothing to counteract this trend. Trudeau would. The worst thing about his economic blueprint is that it overlooks the poorest 30 per cent of Canadians. In his eagerness to help the middle class, the Liberal leader has excluded those who need help most.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Trudeau takes from the rich, gives to the median
… median incomes fell dramatically between 1976 (when Statistics Canada’s data start) and 1997… 1997 marked a significant turning point, and incomes have grown steadily since them. Moreover… the Canadian middle class has been holding up pretty well over the past 20 years… In 1976, the bottom income quintile received 27 per cent of all government transfers; this share had fallen to 19 per cent in 2011.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, ideology, poverty, tax
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The Tories want to have their cake and imprison it, too
Canadians… have been spending an additional $91-million a year in order to be less protected from crime…. The Conservative government has… slowed the rate of release for prisoners and this has contributed to a 6-per-cent increase in prison populations over the past four years… In fact crime rates have been dropping since 1991 – 15 years before the Conservatives came to power… “Truth in sentencing” is what the Conservatives call their policy of making it more difficult for inmates to be paroled.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology, standard of living, tax
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You paid for these ads
… the government has booked a $13.5 million media blitz promoting the budget, even though many of its details were leaked in advance, and were extensively reported in the media before and after the budget. Some were announced publicly as long ago the 2011 election… the Government Advertising Act introduced in Ontario in 2004… gives the province’s Auditor General the authority to approve ads before they are made public… It should be copied everywhere.
Tags: budget, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Mulcair, Trudeau are far from boxed in by Harper’s budget agenda
… despite the Tories’ best efforts the coffers have not been drained… Despite the slump in oil revenues, Ottawa still expects to rack up a cumulative surplus of $13 billion over the next five years… Moreover, there’s an additional $12 billion-plus in savings to be found by cancelling the Family Tax Cut, the income-splitting program that will disproportionately benefit the wealthiest… $33 billion over five years to reinvest in more progressive programs
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Got a problem? Privatize it (and pay the price for selling off Hydro One later).
Hydro One’s financial statements show earnings of between nine and 11 per cent since its inception… Currently that revenue helps pay for hospitals, schools, and other public services… Why sell off a valuable asset with guaranteed returns of nine to 11 per cent per year when you can borrow that money for less than three per cent per year? Because it is a crown corporation, Hydro One doesn’t pay taxes to the federal government, instead, a payment in lieu of taxes is retained by our province.
Tags: budget, ideology, privatization, tax
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How the Great Gatsby model of social mobility fails in Canada
… policy should be directed at… skills development, availability of extended health care benefits, disability benefits, children’s benefits, affordable child care, effective employment services, and comprehensive unemployment insurance. Funding some of these needs… through a more progressive tax system, which would include not imposing unacceptably high marginal effective tax rates on the poorest people as the current system does, would not only improve social mobility but also reduce income inequality.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
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