Archive for the ‘Governance’ Category
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Canadians giveth, the taxman taketh away
Taxes, and taxes alone, take more of our income than they used to. Canadians’ taxes, including business taxes hidden in the price of goods and services, have increased almost 2,000 per cent, nearly three times the rate of inflation. From a third of our income in 1961, all taxes combined now take more than 40 per cent. Why? … the list of things Canadians were presumed unable to do for themselves, or do well, has expanded on many fronts, from health care to charity. And so the state has expanded dramatically as it takes on added tasks.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance History | 1 Comment »
Poll finds support for PM Trudeau’s preferred electoral system—if it means winner elected with majority support
A new public opinion poll indicates the ranked-ballot electoral system Prime Minister Justin Trudeau favours to replace Canada’s so-called first-past-the-post system of electing federal governments has the approval of only a third of Canadians—until they are told that under the system “the winning party is always elected with the support of the majority.” … Support for proportional representation remained above 50 per cent before and after respondents were told that that system often results in coalition governments.
Tags: featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
Revenue tools could have blunted growth in Ontario’s debt
Interest payments already represent the government’s third-largest expense, with debt servicing consuming more than what the province spends on post-secondary education. And the bigger the debt, the higher those payments, leaving less money for services that Ontarians want and need… Ontario’s mistake wasn’t to undertake this vital work; it was doing it by massively increasing the flood of red ink. A better way would have been to launch a series of bold new “revenue tools” designed to reduce the province’s need to borrow.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Trudeau’s challenge: Turning promises into policy
… symbolic politics, at which our Prime Minister is proving a master, will work for only so long before voters want to see promises turn into policies and programs… if we try to do everything, we end up dissipating our energies and wasting our resources. I would not claim that the Trudeau government has the wrong priorities, but I know that it has too many.
Tags: ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Brexit and Canada: Two crucial lessons for Liberals
There are now two threads connecting populist, anti-internationalist, xenophobic movements worldwide. The first is income inequality and poverty among the rural working class, which in England voted as a block for Brexit. The second is the fear of Islamism, manifested in suspicion of immigrants and refugees, which fueled the Leave campaign. Fixing inequality, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals say, is their job one.
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
New access law is needed for a digital age
The all-party committee, quite rightly, found that “purely factual or background information” should not be a matter of cabinet confidentiality at all. Furthermore, when a request has been rejected on grounds of cabinet secrecy, the office of the information commissioner should have the power to investigate that refusal… Other welcome recommendations include… Amending the act to establish “a comprehensive legal duty to document” what government does, backed up by punishments for non-compliance.
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Count your blessings, Canada
We have only begun to move down the path to true reconciliation with our indigenous peoples, we have too many pockets of generational poverty still… But. Compared to where we were a generation ago… even a year ago, and more importantly compared to where our closest neighbours, nations and partners are today, as we approach our 149th national day celebration, my grandmother’s declaration rings in my ears, “Count your blessings, Canada…”
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, immigration, multiculturalism, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Dastardly debt clock gets Liberally resurrected
During the federal Conservatives’ run they posted deficits every year until 2015, when they were emphatically asked to leave by the electorate. Yet they were fired not because of their spending habits but because perceptions of cronyism, hypocrisy and mismanagement… Yet Canada didn’t face an imminent collapse of its economy because of debt acquired by the Conservatives. Nor has that circumstance changed with the election of the Liberals… That’s because national wealth grew faster than debt was acquired.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Ottawa must act to end First Nations water crisis identified in Human Rights Watch report
“[T]he Canadian government has violated a range of international human rights obligations toward First Nations persons and communities by failing to remedy the severe water crisis,” the report concludes. Ottawa should be ashamed… past investments were erratic and arbitrarily allocated, often failing to take into account the particular sociological and economic realities of the reserves in question… The Human Rights Watch report is a blot on our international reputation.
Tags: budget, Health, housing, Indigenous, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Delivery System | 3 Comments »
Stephen Harper, Canada’s true father of federation
… when money became tighter in the 1980s and Ottawa pulled back funding for existing programs, only to propose new ones, provinces fought back, vowing not to be fooled again… [Harper] reshaped the federation by refusing to intrude in health care, education or other areas of social policy that properly belong to the provinces… For many, it is a cramped, meagre federalism. For others it is a recipe for harmony in a large, thinly populated and diverse country.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Governance History | 1 Comment »
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