Archive for the ‘Governance’ Category
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How to tackle the housing crisis in Canada’s cities
One in five renters spends more than half their income on housing. Emergency shelter occupancy rates are pushing 90 per cent. And 1.5 million Canadians can’t find safe, decent housing they can afford. Housing is less affordable at every income level and that’s having serious impacts on our nation’s prosperity, its productivity and its identity as a place of equal opportunity and inclusion… at the Toronto Housing Summit… we’ll present seven principles to tackle our housing crisis
Tags: budget, economy, Health, homelessness, housing, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
Governments must pony up to address affordable housing crisis
… municipal leaders from across the country… are all in agreement that the federal government should dedicate most of its promised $20 billion in “social infrastructure” money over 10 years to affordable housing. While that would mean abandoning plans to spend some of that money other priorities, like child care and recreational facilities, it would at go a long way to addressing a housing crisis that leaves many thousands of people struggling to find a decent, affordable place to live.
Tags: budget, homelessness, housing, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Mayors form alliance to push for housing cash
At the summit, the big-city mayors will be requesting that most of the available $20 billion in federal money for “social” infrastructure be dedicated to public and affordable housing… Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government has not yet committed to a substantial investment, beyond the $42.9 million announced in April for energy retrofits for social-housing towers. But Toronto is facing a $2.6-billion backlog in social housing repairs… [which] has led to the closure of hundreds of units… and put thousands more at risk of being shuttered.
Tags: budget, homelessness, housing, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
Big tax evaders must be brought to justice
Perhaps CRA would have more resources available to go after the big fish if it didn’t spend quite so much time and effort harassing hard-working, moderate-income Canadians who may have missed a deadline or a decimal point… bringing money-launderers and tax evaders to justice carries little political cost and would go a long way toward making the tax system fairer for everyone.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
Should the government rethink the way it deals with charities?
If we accept that there’s a place for charities, and support at least some limits on their political activities, where does that leave us? In short: in need of a complete overhaul of the sector. Rather than one set of rules applying to all charities (regardless of their size and purpose), we need targeted rules that apply differently to different organizations… In all cases, a clearer definition of “political activities” is required and partisan activities should remain strictly off limits.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, philanthropy, poverty, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | 2 Comments »
To fix Ontario politics, Wynne must follow the money
If Ms. Wynne is determined to end the perception that Ontario politicians are selling access, banning politicians from showing their faces at fundraisers won’t do the trick. Instead, she should further lower the maximum personal donation to $100, and also outlaw the bundling of small donations by third parties… the notion that money talks too loudly in Ontario politics will disappear if big donations are outlawed. Nothing else will work as well.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, participation
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
What Tax Avoidance Costs Us (For One, Pharmacare)
… here’s my list of the questions we need to be asking Canadians: Do you believe that Canadian corporations should pay the stated corporate tax rate — the second-lowest in the G7 — and be prevented from using tax havens to avoid paying their share? / Would you support clamping down on the use of tax havens and other loopholes, and using the billions gained as a result for public programs like pharmacare?
Tags: budget, crime prevention, economy, featured, globalization, ideology, pharmaceutical, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Anti-tax crusaders provide only half the picture
The Fraser Institute’s annual report on taxes never considers what Canadians get in return for their money… the portion of income going to taxes has increased by only 7 per cent since 1961 – a half-century over which we got the Canada Pension Plan and medicare, among other aspects of the social safety net that many see as central to our national identity… middle-income Canadians enjoy public services, from education to health insurance to pensions, worth about $41,000 annually per family…
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Kathleen Wynne is this close to ending cash-for-access. Don’t stop now
… there are still two big problems with Bill 201. One is the inclusion of a taxpayer-funded subsidy of $2.71 per vote… Per-vote subsidies are pure cash grabs. Political parties can and do raise more than enough money directly from small donors… The other is the lack of any regulation to prevent parties from selling access to politicians… opposition parties… have proposed amendments that would explicitly ban the practice. Mr. Naqvi should consider them.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, participation, rights, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
The evidence is in — evidence-based policy can have disastrous results
Data are always imperfect, and a data-driven interpretation of our society woefully incomplete… Good theory and judgement is more important than good data. Evidence does not answer moral and metaphysical policy questions… civil servants are infatuated with evidence-based policy… Insisting on evidence-based policy-making transfers power to those able to assemble and analyze data, effectively excluding the public from decision-making.
Tags: ideology, participation
Posted in Governance Debates | 2 Comments »
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