Archive for the ‘Governance’ Category
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Canada keeps the populist forces at bay
The Canadian public’s level of confidence in its country’s democracy and system of government has remained remarkably stable since 2014, and largely consistent with results dating back to at least 2010. Across more than three dozen measures, public trust levels have either held steady or showed modest improvement in comparison with three years ago.
Tags: featured, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
If we’re serious about reconciliation, here’s some better ideas than wallowing in shame
… maybe it’s time for some new ideas, to get us beyond the cycles of grievance-reiteration and epochs of national amnesia. Like reconfiguring the Office of Canada’s Governor-General as a permanent indigenous appointment. Like adding a fifth “region” to the Senate, in addition to Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes and the West, to represent the First Nations, Metis and Inuit… At the very least, we might start by recovering Canada’s forgotten history as a country that was being built long before Confederation by indigenous people along with the English and the French…
Tags: featured, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Quebec, Canada and the national unity crisis we outgrew
… the formerly dominant fault-line in the province’s politics – sovereignty vs. federalism – has become increasingly over-shadowed by rural-urban questions, divergent regional interests and a more typical ideological divide between conservatives and social democrats… Greater provincial autonomy; more control over taxation, international relations, immigration and cultural policy; opting out from federal programs with full compensation – all are a fait accompli.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »
Welcome to the new and improved Senate
They sit as independents, and act like it. They and other like-minded senators have improved more than one piece of legislation by sending it back to the House with recommended revisions. Sometimes the House has accepted their recommendations, sometimes it hasn’t. In all cases, the Senate has deferred to the final will of the Commons, as it did, ultimately, with the budget… We should think of this new, improved Senate as a jury, another institution of our democracy…
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, participation, Senate
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Justin Trudeau goes halfway on access to information
The new legislation, the first major update to the act since it was passed more than 30 years ago, does offer a number of welcome and significant improvements to the current system… What the legislation doesn’t do, however, is extend the disclosure rules to PMO or cabinet documents… Instead, the Liberals have tried to placate the public and transparency advocates by including a measure that would force ministerial offices to “proactively disclose” certain information.
Tags: featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
The Brass Tax: Busting Myths about Overtaxed Canadians
… the average tax rate reflects disproportionately the tax rate of the highest-paid… typical Canadians, smack in the middle of the income spectrum, earn incomes of roughly $50,500 and pay about $7,000 in income taxes; their effective tax rate was roughly 14%. The table also shows that only 20% of working Canadians pay more than 20% of their income as income taxes… Canada’s highest earners have an effective income tax rate of only 26%.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Concerns that Liberal anti-terror bill looks to protect rights at expense of security
The problem is, as the government’s own report on its consultations makes clear, the “secret and complex nature” of national security work means Canadians have no idea whether law enforcement officers need additional powers… The disruption provision allows CSIS to seek a court warrant to break laws or breach Charter rights, short of causing bodily harm or obstructing justice.
Tags: crime prevention, featured, globalization, ideology, rights, Senate
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Ottawa shouldn’t ignore hunger for tax fairness
… the government is well aware of the popular appeal of economic justice. The Liberals’ obsession with “the middle class and those who aspire to join it” defined their successful election campaign. Once in office, Morneau vowed to restore fairness to a tax system that has in many ways contributed to, rather than mitigated, deepening economic inequality… Yet despite Morneau’s repeated mentions of tax fairness, the budget left intact all of the most egregious loopholes, offering only a few marginal reforms.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Millions in foreign funds spent in 2015 federal election to defeat Harper government, report alleges
Foreign money funnelled towards Canadian political advocacy groups affected the outcome of the 2015 federal election, according to a document filed last week with Elections Canada… In 2015, Tides Foundation donated $1.5 million of U.S. money to Canadian third parties in the election year, according to the report… The complaint by Canada Decides alleges that foreign money “spawned” Leadnow and helped fund an elaborate campaign to oust the ruling Conservative Party.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Another government, another attempt to undermine the budget watchdog
The new legislation… seek[s] to make the head of the PBO an independent officer of Parliament, like the auditor general or the privacy commissioner… as if to ensure the watchdog is not made too independent, the bill goes on, proposing a series of reforms that would limit the office’s access to information and eliminate important aspects of its mandate.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
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