Free-market ‘rationalism’ turned Canada from champ to chump
Sunday, February 26th, 2012
February 26, 2012
From Korea to Finland, China to the Netherlands, Brazil to Germany, countries which actively direct and manage growth seem to perform better in productivity, innovation, and global trade. These countries have fostered investment and innovation with focused sector strategies; deliberately favourable capital market, exchange rate, and trade policies; and sophisticated efforts to manage income distribution so that productivity growth visibly translates into higher living standards
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Setting the record straight on equalization
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
Jan. 11, 2012
McMillan clarifies some common misconceptions and makes a valuable contribution to informed debate about fiscal federalism. The first misconception is that people in equalization-receiving provinces get more public services than in nonrecipient provinces… Using 2008 data… people in recipient and non-recipient provinces receive approximately the same level of services… At the current annual cost of $14 billion, equalization represents about 5.5 per cent of federal spending. This share has remained roughly constant for 35 years…
Tags: budget, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Poor mental health harming productivity, says OECD
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Dec. 13, 2011
The OECD’s report, entitled Sick on the Job? Myths and Realities about Mental Health at Work found that most people with a mental disorder are in work, with employment rates of between 55 per cent and 70 per cent – about 10 to 15 per cen-tage points lower than for people without a disorder. But people with mental illness are two to three times as likely to be unemployed as people with no mental health problems. This gap represents an economic major loss… health systems in most countries were narrowly focused on treating people with severe disorders such as schizophrenia, who account for only a quarter of all sufferers.
Tags: disabilities, economy, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Celebrate the Canadian way
Monday, November 21st, 2011
Nov. 19, 2011
We should celebrate multiculturalism, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the Canadian values that they represent. The best way to do that is to fix the flaws we see and the new ones that will emerge as we proceed. There are many opportunities: We must resolve fairly the human, political and constitutional issues that plague our relations with First Nations peoples (who are also citizens)… Above all, we must attack the growth and criminalization of poverty and homelessness that are both the cause and consequence of every injustice we see, if we look, around us.
Tags: homelessness, multiculturalism, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Retirement security needed for all
Saturday, July 16th, 2011
July 15, 2011
Those who oppose decent retirement incomes go to great lengths to misrepresent public-sector worker pension plans. Public-sector workers make significant contributions to pay for future pension benefits. An average pension for a 30-year employee would be a modest $17,900 a year. But that’s not the point. The point is that all Canadians should have a right to a secure income in our retirement years.
Tags: ideology, pensions, rights, standard of living
Posted in Debates | 1 Comment »
Playing games for social change
Monday, June 27th, 2011
June 27, 2011
… Evoke, an online game developed by the World Bank Institute… calls on players to become agents of social change. Using the game’s “superpowers,” such as collaboration, resourcefulness and local insight, they invent solutions to humanity’s greatest threats, then share ideas in blog and video posts. The most innovative solutions received seed money, scholarships or mentorships to turn fledgling ideas into functioning social enterprises. [It] is proving that games can engage players in alternate worlds while promoting skills that translate to real life.
Tags: globalization, participation, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
No time to give up on tax, EI reforms
Sunday, June 26th, 2011
June 25, 2011
Lower income taxes and higher transfer payments from government largely offset these declines, as they should in a recession… On the transfer payment side, Employment Insurance did much of the heavy lifting. Twenty per cent more Canadians received EI in 2009 than 2008 and among those receiving it, the amount received rose 22 per cent. Bottom line? In 2009, the system worked. Market incomes sagged as a result of recession and the “automatic stabilizers” of the income tax and employment insurance systems kicked in to help offset the damage.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Build families, not prisons to reduce crime
Monday, January 31st, 2011
January 30, 2011
We know that prisons have little effect in reducing crime. Those who might be deterred by prison, such as criminal corporation executives, rarely end up in prison. Some offenders become more involved in crime because of their prison experiences. For decades, however, we have known that a better quality of life for children reduces crime. Research on child development shows that support to vulnerable first-time mothers helps children become less troublesome young adults.
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, poverty
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Aboriginals need help: AG
Sunday, January 2nd, 2011
January 2, 2011
Fraser’s audits have highlighted key issues facing First Nations: the significant education gap between reserves and the rest of Canada, the high numbers of aboriginal children in state care, the lack of safe drinking water on reserves and the excessive reporting requirements to federal officials… “Why is the quality of life for thousands of individuals and communities so disparate from the rest of Canada? We can’t just accept that without explanation. And once we know where some of the answers lie, what are we prepared to do about it, as Canadians?”
Tags: budget, Indigenous, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Dear Canada: Don’t surrender on CPP reform
Sunday, December 19th, 2010
December 18, 2010
If CPP is expanded to provide a more stable foundation for retirement security in Canada, it would represent one of our country’s most important social policy changes since the introduction of Medicare.
It would also be a timely Christmas present for the millions of Canadians who worry about their retirement savings and who have been burned by RRSPs and mutual funds. The big question is this: will the nine provincial finance ministers who support CPP expansion find the courage to make a deal in the public’s best interest?
Tags: pensions, rights, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
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