Archive for the ‘Governance Delivery System’ Category
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Ontario to get $1.3 billion extra in federal transfer payments
Ontario is getting $1.25 billion in extra cash from Ottawa next year, a boost which helps take the sting out of the $640 million in transfer payments the province says it was deprived of in 2014… Canada’s most populous province will get $20.4 billion from Ottawa for health, social services and equalization payments in 2015, up from $19.2 billion in the past year… $13 billion for health in Ontario, up $735 million; and almost $5 billion for social programs, up $143 million
Tags: budget, economy, Health, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
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Ottawa’s advertising contracts reach nearly $500 million over past five years
[It’s] “… cheating because they’re using public resources to further their chances of electoral success” said McGuinty… [who] has written to Finance Minister Joe Oliver to urge him to adopt his private member’s bill, C-544… [which] would give the auditor general’s office the authority to nix public ad campaigns that too closely resembled political messaging.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, standard of living
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Ottawa Eyes Hefty Fee Hikes for Access to Information Requests
Canada’s Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault told a House of Commons committee on Access to Information and Privacy in Ottawa that her department’s budget had shrunk, while her workload had dramatically increased… ”If the goal of access to information is to make information available to the public, adding fees is certainly not going to make it better,” Hinds said. ”Part of the problem is the way they manage freedom of information. If you just make the documents available, you wouldn’t need to charge fees.”
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
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How to ease Ontario’s fiscal squeeze
Getting out of the fiscal trap may only be achieved through bold moves. For example, could alternative approaches to health care delivery improve health outcomes at a lower cost? Could social welfare support that is delivered through myriad programs across the province be replaced with a guaranteed annual income delivered efficiently through the tax system? In broader terms, the tax system itself is in need of policy innovation. Improving [its] simplicity, competitiveness and fairness…
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Why Richest Alberta Wins Most from Federal Transfer Payments
Starr’s research suggests that the “generous” equalization program agreed to in principle has gradually been eroded and transformed into one that effectively rewards the provinces that are already better off… sooner or later… Canadians will realize that “it isn’t fair. And it isn’t right” that access to public services varies so much from province to province… Starr is hopeful that all provinces, even the wealthiest ones, will recognize that it is in their own “self-interest” to ensure reasonable comparability in taxation and services across the country.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
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‘What we’ve got here is failure to communicate’
the Canadian Taxpayers Federation… reported that the federal government has 3,325 Information Services employees… at an annual cost of $263-million… It is safe to say that the CTF figure is conservative… Information and its communication lie at the heart of democracy. If taxpayers are spending that kind of money to hear from their government, they deserve more information flow and less information control. Too often today, it feels like Ottawa is spending $263-million a year to not communicate with Canadians.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
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Calls flood snitch line to find Canadians who hide money offshore — thanks to 15% informants’ reward
The Canada Revenue Agency has 80 new leads on taxpayers who may be hiding money offshore after getting hundreds of calls on its new snitch line. The flush of information has even the agency’s harshest critics acknowledging the initial success of the hotline, established Jan. 15 to help ferret out billions of dollars stashed overseas… As of May 31, more than 800 people rang the number, drawn by a cash reward system that gives the tipster up to 15 per cent of the amount in taxes that the agency eventually collects.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Accountability finally coming to Ontario’s cities: ombudsman
Bill 8 is the new Accountability Act (full name: Public Sector and MPP Accountability and Transparency Act 2014). Once passed, it will, among other things, finally allow Ontarians to complain to their ombudsman about municipal governments, universities and school boards — in addition to the hundreds of provincial government organizations we already oversee.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
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Overactive regulators tie citizens in red tape
Even if they wanted to… politicians couldn’t do what they’re promising. Their predecessors delegated regulatory authority to so many agencies — public boards and commissions, private corporations, professional colleges, industry associations and legislative watchdogs — that control has slipped out government hands… the current snarl of regulations, which put a chokehold on democracy and erode public confidence in the ability of governments to act in the public interest. But a scythe won’t do the job.
Tags: featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation
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Amalgamation brought fewer Ontario cities, but more city workers, report finds
… about 270,000 people work in the municipal public sector in Ontario today, compared with 160,000 people in 1995… when municipalities merge, there will inevitably be jobs created in some fields… Amalgamation also tends to hike wages for public-sector employees… Growth can also be partly explained by the so-called “downloading” of provincial responsibilities onto municipalities that occurred under the Harris government, including social assistance, public housing and public health.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction
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