Archive for the ‘Governance’ Category
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With its 2024 budget, the Ford government is asking you to trust it. You shouldn’t
Thursday, March 28th, 2024
… it’s one thing to announce billions in new health-care spending… It’s another to admit that 1.3 per cent growth is below inflation and nowhere near enough to sustain public health care in the province, let alone sufficiently expand it. It’s another still to admit that all this program spending amounts, on balance, to real-dollar cuts… The government is going all-in on highways and roads — with a few nods to the poor suckers stuck taking inadequate, crumbling public transportation.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, housing, ideology
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Ford government’s budget shortfall soars to $9.8 billion as tax revenues plunge
Wednesday, March 27th, 2024
“… We are going to follow through on a plan that is working — knowing that the higher deficits, compared to what we projected last year, will be time-limited while the return on investment will be felt for decades.” … settlements with public servants after the government’s Bill 124 wage-cap legislation was found to be unconstitutional have added billions in additional costs to the treasury. Under Ford, the provincial debt has soared by $116 billion to $462.9 billion, the largest debt of any subnational jurisdiction in the world.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Is starving Ontario’s hospitals and schools really something to brag about?
Tuesday, March 26th, 2024
In the last five years, the Ministry of Finance has brought in close to 30 measures to reduce its own revenues. All told, those changes drained no less than $7.7 billion from the provincial treasury in 2023-24… The overarching goal is not to use public dollars efficiently, it’s to drive economic activity into the private sector so investors can turn a profit. This is why the current Ontario government has no qualms about privatizing surgeries and diagnostic procedures — even though private procedures can cost more than double what they cost in a public hospital.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, privatization, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Under Doug Ford, Ontario’s tribunals are under severe attack
Thursday, March 21st, 2024
When Premier Doug Ford announced he wanted to appoint “like-minded” judges, critics were quick to condemn the assault on judicial independence. In contrast, a similar assault on the independence of adjudicative tribunals has flown almost entirely under the radar… In fact, connections to the Ford government or the federal Conservatives seems a much more valuable asset than experience or expertise.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, participation
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
So, what expenditures should Canada cut to meet its NATO obligations?
Thursday, March 21st, 2024
About a quarter of all spending is transferred directly to Canadians, either through elderly benefits (Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement), Employment Insurance benefits and the Canada Child Benefit… Another 20 per cent of Ottawa’s spending is transferred directly to the provincial governments… Equalization payments account for about $24-billion… Interest payments on the debt account for another $47-billion… while Ottawa’s total spending is $500-billion, only $96-billion in operating spending is discretionary
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Canadians could have a balanced budget and better tax system: C.D. Howe Institute Shadow Budget
Tuesday, February 27th, 2024
Beyond reducing the debt burden to a level that is prudent and more fair to younger Canadians, the authors advocate tax changes to reward work and investment… The Shadow Budget proposes restoring the GST to 7 percent over time, lowering the rate for the middle personal income tax bracket to 15 percent in 2027, and lowering the general corporate income tax rate by one percentage point in 2025 and another in 2026.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
The crisis hitting small-town Ontario
Saturday, February 24th, 2024
Communities across the province are grappling with overdoses and appealing for more resources to deal with the crisis… According to the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, the opioid death rate is three times higher in northern than southern Ontario… While we often hear complaints about the lack of sufficient treatment and harm reduction facilities in large cities like Toronto, smaller communities are lucky if they have any at all.
Tags: crime prevention, Health, jurisdiction, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
For Ed Broadbent, socialism meant providing for average people — and fighting for the cause
Sunday, January 28th, 2024
For Ed, democratic socialism meant waging a constant battle against the inequality-producing tendencies of the market. It meant institutions that were democratically accountable shaping markets to serve the needs of people not private interests… The right to affordable housing and dental care, for example… ought to be guaranteed rights of citizenship. Being rights, not privileges, they should be available to everyone
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »
Bleeding the patient: tracking five years of Ontario revenue reductions
Sunday, January 28th, 2024
Since 2018, the Ministry of Finance has made close to 30 policy changes that have cut taxes, cut fees, and paid out large sums in the form of tax credits. As the table below shows, those changes are draining a minimum of $7.7 billion from the provincial treasury in 2023-24… it looks like it’s coming out of public services… successive governments have deliberately bled themselves dry and then pled poverty afterward.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »
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
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
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