Archive for the ‘Governance’ Category

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Here’s why the Liberals won’t brag about closing tax loopholes

Friday, July 26th, 2019

Morneau learned the hard way that raising taxes (or closing loopholes), unless in a manner that targets only a small number of extremely rich people, is a tricky business. However unfair or ineffective the loopholes, there will always be vociferous opposition to their closing, not least when those who have benefited most can well afford the best lobbyists.

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Why you shouldn’t expect to see populism take root in Canada

Friday, July 26th, 2019

Middle class incomes aren’t stagnating in Canada: they’re up a third after inflation from where they were 20 years ago. The share of income going to the “top 1 per cent” is falling, not rising, here, and has been for more than a decade; at 7.3 per cent, after-tax, it is at its lowest level since 1996. Poverty levels are the lowest on record.

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Much is at stake in the contest between pluralism and populism

Sunday, July 21st, 2019

Our history records some serious failures. They serve as tough reminders that our pluralism is far from perfect. It cannot be taken for granted. Indeed, it is fragile and demands our constant vigilance and hard work… We must practice the art of inclusion and accommodation — to make room for one another. To reach out. To listen to each other. To bridge differences. To try very hard to understand one another… Canada is now and ever will be a precious work-in-progress.

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Why Conservatives have more at stake than Liberals in Canada’s class war

Tuesday, July 9th, 2019

A society that sneers at tradespeople is a society on its way to the poorhouse… A society that sneers at “so-called experts” is a society on its way to the madhouse… Liberal “virtue-signalling” may flatter the moral vanity of the educated classes, but it is Conservatives who have played the class card more heavily, and with more destructive results. Class wars are always toxic, but class wars organized around “is education a good thing” are suicidal.

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How Canadians can strike a better balance between the environment and the economy

Sunday, July 7th, 2019

… here are six suggestions for restoring balance to the environment-economy debate, which feel particularly necessary in a federal election year when many participants will be surely tempted to succumb to the short-term benefits of simplistic polarization.

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The real carbon tax is the money provinces are spending on lawyers

Wednesday, July 3rd, 2019

… the Ontario court also said carbon pricing is not a tax because the money collected by Ottawa will be sent back to the provinces, with nearly all of it going to individual taxpayers, and the remainder to schools, hospitals, municipalities and small and medium-sized businesses in the five provinces on which it is or will be imposed… The Ontario ruling also makes the case for why a federal regime is necessary.

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Andrew Scheer’s Real Bad Climate Plan

Saturday, June 29th, 2019

‘Sixty pages! 11,000 words!’ And designed to show voters he really doesn’t care. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer’s climate policy sets a new benchmark for dishonest political posturing. Scheer’s “A Real Plan to Protect Our Environment” was served up to counter criticism that the party had no climate plan.
Instead, it proved the critics right… only eight per cent of Conservative voters identified it as an important issue; it ranked ninth among their concerns. (Only income inequality was rated a lesser concern.) So doing anything real on climate change would irk the Conservatives’ base.

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Prioritizing fundamental human rights can help us find the clarity we need for good public policy

Thursday, June 27th, 2019

Ultimately, good public policy requires balancing social, economic, fiscal and political considerations. We can get clarity on the best path to pursue if we decide that future public policies prioritize and articulate the dignities and rights that we think all Canadians should be afforded by virtue of being a human being, and not because of where we work.

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Canada has taken an important step in the fight against right-wing extremism

Thursday, June 27th, 2019

Right-wing extremism embraces a jumble of disparate causes, including single-issue flashpoints such as abortion rights, white supremacy and anti-government nostrums. What it shares with terrorism is an ability to use the internet and social media to propagate its cause… CSIS… is increasingly preoccupied by… “the violent threat posed by those looking to advocate/support/engage in racially motivated, ethno-nationalist, anti-government and misogynist violence. “

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Wealth Tax A Flawed Idea With New Life: C.D. Howe Institute

Friday, June 21st, 2019

They find that wealth taxes add relatively little to what taxes on capital income can achieve, and that concerns about the social consequences of wealth concentration are better addressed by reform of existing capital income taxes and by considering wealth transfer (inheritance) taxation… In those few nations that continue to have a wealth tax, its proceeds have decreased over time.

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