Archive for the ‘Governance Policy Context’ Category
If the notwithstanding clause is the nuclear option, Ottawa should respond proportionately
Monday, September 22nd, 2025
… the original constitutional bargain, the one at our founding in 1867, was that the federal government would be the defender of rights against the depredations of local majorities. And the instrument of that defence… was to be the disallowance power… Disallowance, to be sure, has lately fallen into disuse. So, for more than 30 years, had notwithstanding. That has not prevented provincial governments from reviving it; neither should the mere passage of time prevent Ottawa from invoking disallowance.
Tags: featured, ideology, jurisdiction, rights
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Don’t be fooled by big numbers—Ontario budget fails to address years-long funding shortfalls
Thursday, July 10th, 2025
Underfunding trends persist in total program spending, education, post-secondary education, and health. Public services provide the support Ontarians need and good jobs that support the economy—investing in them is the best way to shield the province. But that’s not happening. On the job protection front, we expect more—much more—given the alarming job losses we’re already witnessing. The 2025 budget fails to grasp the importance of protecting workers, not only for their families’ sake, but also as a mitigating strategy that prevents a deep recession.
Tags: budget, economy, Education, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
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How governments can get back to building affordable housing
Wednesday, June 4th, 2025
… the financialization of housing is undermining our ability to build homes people can afford. We saw it clearly when the Ford government scrapped affordable housing rules in Toronto after pressure from corporate landlords… a new approach… means: Rapidly scale non-market and deeply affordable housing. Unlock and mobilize public land for housing construction. Ensure investments create good union jobs and build industrial capacity. Streamline timelines, remove barriers and build the infrastructure our communities need.
Tags: housing, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
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We are rich Canadians and we support higher capital gains taxes
Tuesday, April 23rd, 2024
Ottawa wants to raise taxes for Canada’s ultra-rich. Rich people like us want that, too… with 1 per cent of the country’s residents holding over a quarter of all wealth. We need higher taxes to level out this rising wealth inequality… to fund new spending on priorities like Old Age Security, clean economy, medical care, child care, and housing, but it doesn’t go far enough to address class distortions… we’d also like to see a “super wealth tax,” an inheritance tax, and progressive property taxes
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Federal government goes big on housing—is it enough?
Wednesday, April 17th, 2024
2024 federal budget makes biggest investments in housing, care economy in generations with its second-to-last budget before an election… “This government has done more for housing than previous, more recent federal governments…” it will impose a higher tax on capital gains above $250,000 a year… “While the pharmacare program is still quite limited in scope… Combined with dental care, the confidence and supply agreement has driven major changes in the health care landscape in a very short period of time.”
Tags: Health, housing, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living, tax
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Fiscal folly in Ontario: New report reveals a cheapskate province
Tuesday, April 16th, 2024
In 2022-23, Ontario spent $3,251 less per person on public programs compared to the average of the other provinces… to reach the Canadian average, we would have to spend close to 27 per cent more on programs than we do now… On the revenue side, Ontario raises $4,033 a year less per person than the average of the other provinces… we would have to increase our total revenues this year by 32 per cent to be average.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
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Court strikes down most of Ontario’s Mike Harris-era anti-panhandling law
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024
Most of Ontario’s bans on panhandling in public places… have been struck down by a Toronto judge as unconstitutional… While finding that the ban on squeegeeing and panhandling in roadways should be upheld, Centa struck down all other prohibitions on soliciting donations in public, including from people near public toilets, payphones, ATMs, taxi stands and public transit stops, as well as on transit vehicles and in parking lots.
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, jurisdiction, rights
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Justin Trudeau offers provinces billions of dollars for housing — but with strings attached
Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024
… $5 billion — will be tied to provinces promising to meet certain conditions, among them to allow multiplex townhouses and multi-unit apartments…. “It’s off the table for us,” Ford said last month. “We’re going to build homes, single-dwelling homes, townhomes, that’s what we’re focused on.” … The remaining $1 billion of the $6-billion infusion for housing infrastructure is to be directed to municipalities to address “urgent” infrastructure needs that directly create new housing
Tags: budget, economy, featured, housing, jurisdiction
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Ontario is dead last in program spending—again
Sunday, January 28th, 2024
In 2022, Ontario’s program spending per capita was $3,863 less than the average of the other provinces. This means that for every dollar per person spent on programs in other provinces, Ontario spent 75 cents… there is no evidence—and no one is claiming—that Ontario’s low spending is the result of some magical efficiency in program delivery here. There’s nothing efficient about having too few nurses.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
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The Ontario treaty deal is a game-changer for Indigenous rights
Tuesday, June 27th, 2023
The $10-billion settlement announced this week between the Robinson-Huron First Nations, Ontario and the federal government signals a tectonic shift in Indigenous-government relations… Major developments of the Ring of Fire mineral properties and other northern Ontario projects are slowed by the absence of agreements with First Nations. A new prosperity-sharing formula will be critical in breaking future logjams.
Tags: Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, rights, standard of living
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