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Why dentists are not signing up for the Canadian Dental Care Plan
Saturday, July 20th, 2024
It is time organized dentistry take their professional responsibility seriously, and stop swaying dentists away from the CDCP… There is a long history of organized dentistry opposing public dental care—much like how physicians opposed universal healthcare when it was first rolled out. Since organized dentistry has a history of opposing public delivery of dental care, they are more likely to negotiate in good faith out of concern of this public delivery model being scaled up if private dentists do not sign up for the program.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, poverty, privatization
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Canada’s shift to a more regressive tax system, 2004 to 2022
Thursday, May 9th, 2024
Taxation of the wealthiest is a central means to reduce inequality, provide adequate shared public infrastructure and services that benefit all, and create opportunities for all to live a decent life… Despite the progressive personal income tax system, when we look at all taxes and income, the tax system is only moderately progressive at the bottom, flat through the middle and regressive at the top.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality History | No Comments »
Ontario has lost 5,000 classroom educators since 2018
Wednesday, May 8th, 2024
In 2024-2025, Ontario will have 4,990 fewer classroom educators than it would have had if the funding formula hadn’t changed since 2018-19. Under the new formula, kindergarten will have to make do with 1,600 fewer staff. Grades 4 to 8 will have almost 1,000 fewer staff. Grades 9 to 12 will lose almost 2,600 positions… Depriving Ontario’s children of educators is the worst thing this government can do for the future of this province.
Tags: budget, child care, ideology, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Federal government goes big on housing—is it enough?
Wednesday, April 17th, 2024
2024 federal budget makes biggest investments in housing, care economy in generations with its second-to-last budget before an election… “This government has done more for housing than previous, more recent federal governments…” it will impose a higher tax on capital gains above $250,000 a year… “While the pharmacare program is still quite limited in scope… Combined with dental care, the confidence and supply agreement has driven major changes in the health care landscape in a very short period of time.”
Tags: Health, housing, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Fiscal folly in Ontario: New report reveals a cheapskate province
Tuesday, April 16th, 2024
In 2022-23, Ontario spent $3,251 less per person on public programs compared to the average of the other provinces… to reach the Canadian average, we would have to spend close to 27 per cent more on programs than we do now… On the revenue side, Ontario raises $4,033 a year less per person than the average of the other provinces… we would have to increase our total revenues this year by 32 per cent to be average.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
How the public sector is fighting income inequality (and why it’s still not enough)
Wednesday, February 28th, 2024
The public sector’s impact on gender pay equity is very concentrated among middle- to middle-low income earners who were making around $20 an hour in 2023. At that income level, women in the public sector make roughly the same as men in both the public and private sectors, achieve pay equity. It’s a rare phenomenon… Also, the gender pay gap widens in both sectors at higher-income levels.
Tags: economy, standard of living
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Seeking common ground at the Thanksgiving table
Friday, October 6th, 2023
We need to understand that the anger that folks are feeling… is based on real issues – even if the target of that anger is, to put it charitably, misplaced. That misdirection is often fed by politicians, capitalists, and the well-funded propagandists whose job is to keep the working majority squabbling amongst ourselves… we also have a responsibility to try to move the needle a little bit towards justice.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, housing, immigration, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
“Getting it done” Ontario’s agenda for college education
Tuesday, August 1st, 2023
The rhetoric of cost-efficiency embraces regulation, hierarchy and monopoly to transform college educational policy. The resulting marketing of education is destabilizing the college system by lowering educational standards and replacing education with labour-ready training… the pedagogical plan is no less disconcerting and will result in changes in student recruitment and training that essentially bypass key components of a college education.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Education History | No Comments »