Archive for the ‘Governance’ Category

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That unexpected taste in Ontario’s budget? It’s austerity-lite

Saturday, April 13th, 2019

… even before Doug Ford was elected Premier, already had the lowest per-capita spending of any Canadian province. Tenth out of 10… Spending on… health, which claims roughly 40 cents on every government dollar, is budgeted to rise by just 1.6 per cent a year over the next three years. That’s less than the rate of inflation, and only about half the rate of inflation plus population growth… The government also plans to increase education spending by just 1.2 per cent a year over the next three years – while cutting post-secondary spending by 1 per cent a year and lowering spending on children and social services by 2.1 per cent a year.

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Omnibus bill shows it’s still politics as usual for Trudeau government

Wednesday, April 10th, 2019

… this year’s was less than half the length of last year’s 800-plus-page opus magnum. But, as has become the custom with both Liberal and Conservative governments, it rolls together numerous pieces of legislation touching a wide range of issues that have little to do with the spending of government money… With proper planning, the government could have dealt with… separate pieces of legislation well in advance of the budget bill coming out and steamrolling over informed debate.

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How Billionaires and Big Pharma Battled Canada’s National Drug Plan

Monday, April 8th, 2019

Batt found powerful players — including insurance and drug companies — profit from the current system. And that they had unleashed a major, expensive lobbying, PR and public campaign to fight a national pharmacare program… It’s time Canadians enjoyed a common sense pharmacare plan built to provide coverage for everyone, control costs and keep prices down. It’s time to do what’s right for the public’s health and the country’s economy.

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What people are getting wrong about this entire silly affair [SNC-Lavalin]

Friday, April 5th, 2019

… the option to Canadian prosecutors to impose a fine rather than lay a criminal charge is legitimate and sensible and the media and opposition should stop referring to it as a sleazy, partisan escape hatch for the naughty corporate friends of the Liberal Party… The argument that Trudeau had no right to review the case is spurious: he has an absolute obligation to discharge the duties of his office.

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Conservative lies about the carbon tax need to be called out

Thursday, April 4th, 2019

Perhaps the most prevalent deceit is the common conservative lament that the federal carbon tax is regressive and hurts the country’s poorest citizens most. Nothing is further from the truth. Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission estimates that 80 per cent of families will receive rebates greater than their carbon costs under the federal program… what’s really immoral is being a leader of a political party in this country with no plan to help fight climate change.

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Remember when the Liberal carbon tax was a conservative idea?

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2019

They’re an economically logical, pro-market way of lowering greenhouse-gas emissions. A way of using prices – the basic mechanism of free markets – to reduce pollution. A way of putting billions of small environmental decisions in the hands of millions of people, rather than handing them over to a big government bureaucracy. And a way to tax something societies need less of, namely pollution, while lowering taxes on things we all want more of, like business investment and personal income.

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As usual, Doug Ford has it wrong on carbon tax

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2019

… the real threat to our long-term future is precisely what the carbon tax is designed to head off — climate change… Economists of all political stripes agree that a carbon tax is the most effective way to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions… the way the government has structured it, most people stand to come out ahead once they’ve collected their tax rebate. The idea… is to raise the price of carbon-intensive activities and give people a financial incentive to reduce them.

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IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST(S)

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2019

“The national economic interest” is not to be considered by the prosecution in deciding whether a prosecutor may negotiate a remediation (deferred prosecution) agreement… the purposes of the remediation sections added to our Criminal Code? There are six, one being: “to reduce the negative consequences of the wrongdoing for persons – employees, customers, pensioners and others – who did not engage in the wrongdoing while holding responsible those who did …”

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Canada, U.S. move to redraft border treaty to cut flow of asylum seekers

Monday, April 1st, 2019

… those who cross between border stations have the right to make a refugee claim. Canada wants this changed so most people coming from the United States – at any point along the border – can be immediately deported. The idea behind the treaty is that refugees do not face a risk of persecution in the United States, so it is safe for them to apply for asylum there

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Maytree’s roundup of the federal government’s 2019 budget

Thursday, March 28th, 2019

The highlights of the budget included support for first-time home buyers, retraining during working-age, retirement security, and funding for a national drugs agency to start initial work on important parts of a (potential) pharmacare program… also a significant investment in Indigenous communities and reconciliation.

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