Archive for the ‘Governance Policy Context’ Category
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Access to information: Government should be open, by default
In opposition, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau advocated a government that is “open by default.” The idea is entirely right. And now it’s time to deliver. A recent report from Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault suggests it won’t be easy… Some of it has to do with bureaucrats becoming snowed under by a growing pile of requests. But it’s also true that “secret” and “confidential” stamps are cheap, especially in official Ottawa. That has to change.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
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Alberta not obliged to translate laws into French, Supreme Court rules
Alberta has no constitutional obligation to translate its laws into French, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Friday… “Clearly, a province may choose to enact its laws and regulations in both French and English,” the majority said… “But one cannot simply infer a guarantee of legislative bilingualism that would override this exclusive provincial jurisdiction absent clear textual and contextual evidence to support an entrenched right.”
Tags: jurisdiction, rights
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Tall order for Finance Minister Bill Morneau
Balance the budget in 2019-20 while “continuing to reduce the federal debt-to-GDP ratio throughout our mandate.” / Implement a promised middle-class tax cut by raising taxes on those earning more than $200,000. / Cancel “income-splitting” for families while retaining it for seniors / Bring in a new and enhanced Canada Child benefit / Enhance” the Canada Pension Plan / Mount a massive 10-year infrastructure program / pare back the Conservatives’ boutique tax credits…
Tags: budget, child care, economy, featured, ideology, Indigenous, pensions, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Trudeau makes public his ministerial mandate letters — their marching orders for four years
All 30 “mandate letters” were publicly posted on the prime minister’s website as part of Trudeau’s promised “plan for open and transparent government for Canadians.” It is a first for the federal government, and included a signal that the ministers will be held to a higher ethical standard, with the caution that “the arrangement of your private affairs should bear the closest public scrutiny… the government has “expanded or strengthened” rules, including guidance on non-partisan use of departmental communications resources and the new code of conduct for exempt staff.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, economy, featured, Health, ideology, multiculturalism, participation, philanthropy, rights, standard of living
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A better way to pay for the middle-class tax cut
The increase in the top rate is ill-considered… If the new Liberal government wishes to improve equity, it would be advised to go after the various tax preferences that undermine both economic growth and fairness in the tax system… by reducing some of the following: the small business tax deduction ($3.2 billion), lifetime capital gains exemption ($600 million), donation credit related to gifted securities ($52 million), flow-through shares ($125 million) and bringing capital gains tax rates in line with the top tax rate on dividends ($1.25 billion).
Tags: budget, economy, featured, globalization, ideology, tax
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Thanks to the Tories, and you, taxpayers, for all this money you’re sending me
The Fraser Institute… identified 68 tax credits whose elimination would bring in an extra $20 billion a year to the federal coffers… as it’s been having all of you good people chip in a few hundred bucks to send my toddler to gymnastics, this is good policy. Some might even call it good conservative policy. Why the are the Liberals the only ones proposing moving us even vaguely in that general direction?
Tags: budget, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Yes, let’s have an election on citizenship
Citizenship is weird. It is not one of those “Canadian values,” about which party leaders love to debate. It is rather the precondition for participating in those debates. In other words, citizenship is a right. As a right, you either have it or you don’t. If you have it, it can’t be taken away by someone with power, just because you don’t accept their notion of Canadian values — as you might remove it from them, if you had the power, because they didn’t conform to your values chart.
Tags: ideology, immigration, multiculturalism, participation, rights, standard of living
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UN sets goal to end poverty, hunger in next 15 years
The draft agreement… outlines 17 goals with 169 specific targets on issues ranging from ending poverty “in all its forms everywhere” to ensuring quality education and affordable and reliable energy and protecting the environment… The 17 new, non-binding goals will succeed the eight Millennium Development Goals adopted by world leaders 15 years ago… the new plan… recognizes that protecting the environment, eradicating poverty and promoting economic growth and well-being are interlinked.
Tags: globalization, Health, poverty, standard of living
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Hope for radical progressives might be found in the tale of Jeremy Corbyn
… millennials have personal memories that do not include the Cold War or double-digit inflation. They have no interest in socialism or social democracy, but they do not associate those terms with positions in a death struggle of organizing principles for civilization. They are children of a dampened business cycle — what economists call “The Great Moderation.” The Moderation blew a tire in 2007, and that is the kind of event that calls verities into question.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living, women, youth
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Stephen Harper’s Courts: How the judiciary has been remade
Criminal defence lawyers are underrepresented… Academics are, as well, with some notable exceptions. So, too, is anyone who has a senior role in a group with the word “reform” in its title… Business lawyers are favoured. Prosecutors are favoured… “It’s very clear that it’s almost impossible for a judge who comes from the political centre or to the left to be appointed… which means that the appointment of judges is from a very small pool of lawyers.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living
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