Archive for the ‘Governance Policy Context’ Category

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With child-care program Trudeau finds a model for influencing provincial policy

Saturday, December 18th, 2021

… the success of Trudeau’s child-care program has given the federal government a means to mould provincial policy from Ottawa and he said it’s one he could use again… The agreements vary fairly drastically from province to province — a strategy that allows the federal government to push its agenda while maintaining the autonomy and regional differences of its provincial counterparts. Essentially, the government put the money on the table and invited provinces to come and negotiate for their slice.

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A global minimum corporate tax is an important step toward fairness

Monday, June 7th, 2021

The whole idea of a minimum global tax is to prevent multinationals from tax-shopping, so it will be effective only to the extent that many countries agree to it. The next step is to get the bigger G20 group on board, and then there’s the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation… the biggest companies that have flourished during the pandemic, should pay their share.

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Broadcast Act changes are not about freedom of speech

Wednesday, May 12th, 2021

Free speech is not the same as freedom to broadcast or freedom from accountability. Advocates for an absolutist definition of free speech that includes the freedom to exploit modern technology without consequence ignore the deleterious effects of this world view on broader society… It could be used for the benefit of humanity, but not without some dramatic changes to current terms of acceptable use. Unrestricted access to the most powerful broadcasting platform in history is nobody’s right.

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Budget 2021 analysis: Does it deliver?

Wednesday, April 21st, 2021

About two-thirds of the spending is short-term, related to COVID-19 and the final third carries over to the third year. The programs that extend to the long-term are child care (for which this budget is transformative), long-term care, some business supports and some environmental measures (around clean fuel and climate adaptation)… a historically large budget, but it’s within Canada’s ability to both deal with the impact of a global pandemic and to plant the seeds for a public-led recovery.

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Tax Index 2021: Line by line break-up of who’s paying and dodging taxes

Wednesday, March 24th, 2021

Canada’s top 20 billionaires made $37 billion during the pandemic, while thousands lost jobs and took pay cuts… Canada’s income gap is at its widest since the 1980s and upward income mobility has significantly reduced for most of us… A 1% tax on wealth over $20 million would raise $10 billion in the first year alone.

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From sunny ways to icy reception: How the Liberals are handling issues involving Big Tech firms

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2020

“… we’ve come to the realization that this great, wonderful promise of the free internet… came at a pretty steep cost”… Ottawa’s more aggressive push also comes at a time of rising public distrust of the tech giants worldwide… they appear to have public opinion on their side… polls… showed broad support for policies such as more social-media regulation and requiring digital platforms to charge sales tax.

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Jason Kenney doesn’t seem to understand what the Charter actually says

Thursday, November 26th, 2020

“as a general rule, individual rights in Canada are more circumscribed, and collective or ‘group’ rights, protecting linguistic, religious or aboriginal communities, are more generous than in the United States. In the United States the ethic of the individual is foremost; in Canada there is more concern for the general public welfare and members of disadvantaged groups.” … the Charter doesn’t give cover to governments that don’t want to do what’s required to limit the devastating effects of a pandemic, and it doesn’t explain their decision to slow-roll any public health measures or restrictions.

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Canada needs a robust Digital New Deal to ensure data is used effectively for a public good

Wednesday, November 18th, 2020

The Digital New Deal would introduce Canadian data protocols so that data generated from public infrastructure investments can be shared and accessed effectively, for the public interest… With real data governance, Canadian municipalities, innovators and problem solvers would no longer be working in isolation, without common guideposts or clear, shared goals… we can… be a country that uses technology to its advantage, and doesn’t just let it use us.

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Ottawa faces a fiscal reckoning. It must review all programs and costs 

Friday, September 25th, 2020

The task ahead is on a different scale than any government has faced since the Second World War. It demands not just new programs, but a new way of thinking. This government needs to roll up its sleeves and thoroughly re-examine not only its spending priorities, but its revenue sources, its antiquated tax code, its industrial strategy… Without it, this remains just an unsustainably expensive wish list.

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The poetry of peace, order and good government must be made practical, too

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020

With some lawyers in masks behind plexiglass and others on screens, with nine judges spread throughout the courtroom and with smoke from American forest fires still lingering over Canadian provinces, the Court will ask what POGG’s [“Peace, Order and Good Government”] poetry means in the very real era of climate change and in the face of powerful provincial arguments that the federal legislation reaches too far into provincial domains.

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