Archive for the ‘Governance’ Category
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John Tory extends Rob Ford’s legacy of austerity
… the promise to keep taxes below inflation is just code for limiting tax increases on rich and middle class residents… The problem with making inflation the only factor in funding is that we already underfund many of our core services like transit and housing. Indexing the future funding of these services to inflation guarantees the permanent starvation of public infrastructure. And what for?
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living, tax
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Time to rein in Canada’s tax code
Tax expenditures now amount to upwards of $100 billion annually; by some estimates, they comprise about one quarter of total government spending. Yet these measures have never been subjected to the kinds of accountability or evaluation that are applied to other government outlays… not even the finance department seems to know exactly how much money is foregone or whether these giveaways achieve their objectives.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, tax
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Ontario campaign finance bill fails to address cash-for-access fundraisers
The Ontario Liberals have introduced campaign finance legislation aimed at curbing the influence of big money on politics, but have decided not to put any restrictions on the private cash-for-access fundraisers that started the uproar over political donations in the first place. The new law will also allow donors to give more than $10,000 in some years and make it hard to track whether corporations are illegally paying employees to donate on their bosses’ behalf.
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Canada joins alliance to crack down on corruption
Canada is joining the United States, Britain and three other countries in setting up the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre to crack down on global corruption and recover looted assets… The announcement came at the start of an anti-corruption summit in London. The conference is being attended by about a dozen Prime Ministers and Presidents from around the world… [with] topics including corruption in sports, tax evasion and money laundering.
Tags: crime prevention, economy, featured, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
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Only proportionality will fix our democratic malaise
… only a proportional system can meet the government’s first principle: To ensure that votes are fairly translated into elected results. No more staying at home because our preferred candidate cannot win. No more so-called strategic voting in which we vote to stop a party we like the least rather than choose the candidate or party that best reflects our views… Electoral reform is… about the public interest, what works for voters, what makes our democracy stronger.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, standard of living
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Tread carefully before turning lofty UN principles into Law
What does “free, prior and informed consent” mean? Canadian courts have been clear that aboriginal groups do not have a veto, but that governments have a heavy responsibility to consult and, where possible, accommodate aboriginal concerns. Some aboriginal leaders and university activists insist that a veto exists in law. They point to the UN declaration to buttress their case, which is one of the reasons the previous government was so nervous about endorsing it.
Tags: featured, globalization, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, rights
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Canada Revenue Agency needs a new playbook
… the CRA has not had a single successful prosecution of international tax evasion in the past 10 years… Crowns have no interest in taking on time-consuming cases that can drag on for years… Even if the CRA could interest prosecutors, the CRA simply does not have the resources or experience to investigate such cases. And on cross-border white-collar crime, the RCMP is like a fish out of water… The line between legal international tax avoidance and offshore criminal tax evasion is blurry.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living, tax
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Justin Trudeau’s true tests are still to come [child care / pharmacare]
… no single initiative would make such a big difference in the lives of Canadian families as universal, quality, affordable child care… This issue is urgent. The OECD has ranked us dead last among peer nations for child care. / … not only would national pharmacare ensure that all Canadians have access to the drugs they need, it would also save billions of dollars… every other country with universal health care also covers the cost of prescription medicine… 90 per cent of Canadians support the idea
Tags: child care, crime prevention, economy, featured, Health, ideology, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Tax-cheat crackdown nets $1-billion more than expected, CRA data show
The 2013 budget estimated and booked $550-million a year by 2014-15 in additional revenue from added enforcement. The CRA now says the final net impact of the measures was $1.57-billion for that year… the 2013 changes required the disclosure of the name of the institution holding the foreign funds, the specific country where the property is, and the specific amount of foreign income that was generated.
Tags: crime prevention, economy, globalization, standard of living, tax
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Proportional representation for Canada: A primer
Proportional representation (PR)… is the simple principle that parliaments should reflect how people vote are are designed so each voter can help elect an MP who shares his or her values. For example, if a party receives 30 per cent of the vote, it would receive roughly 30 per cent of the seats. The key to any PR system is multi-member districts or regions… proportional systems not only lead to fair results, but are correlated with stronger government performance
Tags: featured, ideology, participation
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