Archive for the ‘Governance Delivery System’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
Abolishing political subsidies is an incomplete resolution
Friday, January 21st, 2011
Jan. 21, 201
The subsidies inaugurated… in 2003 were supposed to be a revenue-neutral replacement for corporate and union contributions, which were outlawed… But, in fact, the subsidies provide about 50 per cent more revenue to national parties than they used to receive… Parties are not investment clubs. Give them more money, and they will spend it trying to win elections. Give them less money, and they won’t be able to campaign as often. Maybe they’ll even start to co-operate with each other in Parliament to avoid elections and pass some essential legislation.
Tags: budget, participation, tax
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Canada ranks last in freedom of information: Study
Sunday, January 9th, 2011
Jan. 09, 2011
The study by a pair of British academics looked at the effectiveness of freedom-of-information laws in five parliamentary democracies: Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Canada… “Canada comes last as it has continually suffered from a combination of low use, low political support and a weak Information Commissioner since its inception.”… Ms. Legault’s office also suffers from a chronic lack of resources, creating backlogs, while the law does not give her the power to order the release of documents.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Subsidizing separatism [subsidies to federal political parties]
Sunday, January 9th, 2011
Jan. 8, 2011
There are many problems with Canada’s system of public, taxpayer-funded subsidies to federal political parties. The three biggest are: (1) The payments subsidize incumbency…; (2) they force taxpayers to subsidize parties and ideologies with which they disagree…; and (3) they make parties lazy by permitting them to rely on easy dollars from the public treasury, rather than having to go out and earn their donations through the creation of attractive platforms.
Tags: ideology, participation
Posted in Governance Delivery System | 1 Comment »
Tax man to hit Canadian workers harder in 2011
Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
Dec. 28, 2010
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation released its annual tax calculations Tuesday and projected an average increase of 2 per cent in 2011 over 2010. The federation said Ontario residents will see the sharpest payroll tax hike… “Nationally, the culprit is EI. The federal government has created new social programs that it’s decided will be funded through EI premiums, even though most of these things have little if anything to do with employment insurance as the words should actually mean.” … payroll taxes disproportionately hurt the working poor, since they have less money to spare.
Tags: budget, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Reining in the unaccountable chief
Sunday, December 19th, 2010
Dec 19 2010
… it seems like too many military and paramilitary types just don’t do well taking orders, let alone guidance, from anyone not wearing a uniform… So what’s up with the Toronto Police Services Board? It would be nice if it was arms-length effective in its oversight, but let’s review the “short-arm” impression of the recent post-G20 period. Three things stick out… For the sake of a safer city and in service of protecting the reputation of the remarkable performance of most of our police officers, it is time for a much more effective and tougher civilian oversight. Blair needs it…
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Serve the provinces a bigger piece of tax pie
Friday, December 17th, 2010
Dec 17 2010
… why can’t we aspire to a system where provinces raise enough taxes to pay for provincial programs, while the federal government raises enough money to pay for federal programs? If we better aligned spending with revenues, voters could hold provincial governments responsible for delivering provincial programs that they are responsible for. It would do away with the fiscal illusion of spending another government’s money… So instead of going to Ottawa begging for more money, the provinces should go to Ottawa and ask to take over the GST.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology
Posted in Governance Delivery System | 2 Comments »
Vindication for G20 protesters
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
Dec 14 2010
The war measures powers only compounded the problem created by the massive police presence assembled by the federal government… with almost 20,000 police to monitor some 10,000 demonstrators, there were two “guardians of the peace” for every unarmed demonstrator. All this not only alerts us to the dangers of creeping authoritarianism, but amounts to a vindication of the demonstrators, who were often dismissed as troublemakers. On the contrary, we need more these sorts of citizens, who take seriously the notion that dissent is essential to freedom…
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Digitizing the law
Sunday, December 5th, 2010
Dec. 4, 2010
The provincial and federal governments funded the fully wired model courtroom. Researchers plan to stage trials in which electronic document filing will replace the mountains of paper usually generated and witnesses will be able to testify via video. They will even experiment with holographic technology to project a three-dimensional image of a remote witness into the courtroom. The biggest obstacle to moving the courtroom into the 21st century is not the technology but the legal profession’s aversion to change.
Tags: participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Federal parties agree to scrap bill to correct voting inequalities
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
Dec. 02, 2010
In April, the Conservatives announced with great fanfare Bill C-12, which would add 30 seats to the House of Commons, taking it to 338 from 308, to address severe under-representation among Canada’s fastest-growing provinces… The need for the bill was manifest in Monday’s by-elections. In the exurban Toronto riding of Vaughan, 120,864 voters were entitled to cast ballots. But Winnipeg North has only 51,198 electors, making a vote in Greater Toronto worth less than half the value of a vote in Winnipeg.
Tags: multiculturalism, participation
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
The rise of e-democracy
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
Oct. 12, 2010
The core of Integrated Service Delivery (ISD) is the creation of a seamless interface through which users can obtain information, download and submit forms, purchase licences and ask questions. When that single point of contact is online, the time and effort citizens must spend dealing with different departments, or jurisdictions, is substantially reduced. The revolutionary aspect of e-government services, beyond savings and accuracy, remains the potential technology has to produce rapid change. Technology, it seems, can bring voters closer to their democratic institutions and increase participation in the discussion of public policy.
Tags: budget, featured, participation, standard of living
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Recent Comments