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We’re ripe for a great disruption in higher education
Sunday, February 5th, 2012
Feb. 04, 2012
Until now, online education has been regarded as the poor stepchild of the higher-education world – widely suspected of being a second-rate substitute for the real thing. But that’s about to change. The digital revolution is going to disrupt higher education in the same way it’s disrupted so many other industries… The digital revolution will make higher education better, cheaper, more accessible, more engaging and far more customized than anything that exists today. It’ll also turn our current institutions upside down.
Tags: globalization, participation, standard of living
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Statscan’s chief economic analyst quits
Sunday, February 5th, 2012
Feb. 05, 2012
Mr. Cross is concerned that the free exchange of ideas at the agency is diminishing, and that internal dissent is no longer being tolerated by senior managers – particularly when it comes to discussions about the 2011 census and new national household survey… discussion of the latter issues is limited by management’s insistence on being ‘on-message’ all the time about [2011] census and NHS being a success.”
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Stephen Harper’s census and his vision for Canada
Sunday, February 5th, 2012
Feb. 05, 2012
Harper said Canada’s aging population threatens our cherished social programs. He thrust obscure stats such as the old-age-dependency ratio to centre stage, promised to overhaul our immigration system and strongly hinted at raising the age of eligibility for old-age security. These are transformative changes… Atlantic Canada is aging and Ontario’s share of immigration is tumbling. A failure to deal with either of those could have major economic consequences… his vision demanded that every province be treated the same. The danger of that philosophy is it could make them more different than ever.
Tags: economy, ideology, immigration, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
‘China Syndrome’ rears head in coming U.S. election
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Feb. 02, 2012
The truth is we are no longer living in “one nation under God” – we are living in one world under God. Globalization is working – the world over all is getting richer. But a lot of the costs of that transition are being borne by specific groups of workers in the developed West… The irony today is that the real internationalists are no longer the bleeding-heart liberals, they are the cutthroat titans of capital… Smart policy, however, can make a big difference… Americans might want to study how Germany has turned the China Syndrome to the benefit of both its chief executives and its blue-collar workers.
Tags: economy, globalization, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Statscan numbers highlight concerns about aging and the work force
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Feb. 03, 2012
“Since 2006 the share of the working-age population has decreased in most eastern provinces; it has remained the same or increased in Ontario and western provinces,” the Statscan document says… Canada will soon reach, or has already reached, the point where the number of younger people of age to enter the labour force equals the number of Canadians old enough to leave it. Immigration and delayed retirement, however, could ease this looming pressure on the work force.
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Pension reform raises questions about effect in provinces
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
Feb. 02, 2012
Several provinces require citizens to prove they receive the federal Guaranteed Income Supplement for low-income seniors to qualify for their own programs aimed at helping poor seniors… If Ottawa raises the current eligibility age of 65 for Old Age Security and the GIS… it would impact these other programs… The GIS is a top-up program tied to Old Age Security… [which] can only be claimed by seniors with incomes under $16,368… “The interaction with provincial programs will exacerbate the impact on low-income seniors”
Tags: budget, ideology, pensions, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Why not try after-hours care the Dutch way?
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
Feb. 02, 2012
… the Netherlands and France, have created 24/7 physician coverage. Health care is often provided in people’s homes or at a nearby clinic, not at the nearest hospital… You’d think such a system would be prohibitively expensive. Yet, when it comes to chronic illness management, Canada spends far more than either the Netherlands or France.
Tags: budget, Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Why isn’t EI reform on Harper government’s radar?
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
Feb. 01, 2012
A system that treated each jobless worker equally regardless of the local environment would encourage labour mobility and improve productivity. No wonder Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall damns the existing system as a “huge disincentive against getting people to go where there is a job. The principle infused into this ought to encourage people to go where the work is.” … Whatever the reason, reforming employment insurance so that all workers are treated equally, however much it would benefit the economy, is a can the Tories appear to have kicked down the road.
Tags: budget, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Can Ottawa spark innovation? It hasn’t yet
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
Feb. 01, 2012
the federal government has… more than 100 programs, institutes and regional development agencies to support business. That figure doesn’t include an array of tax incentives, the largest of which is the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit. All together, these business programs cost $6.44-billion in the fiscal year 2010-2011… Whether government programs are at the heart of the problem is doubtful, given that the R&D tax credits have been among the most generous in the world… Canada has industries that just don’t do much research and development…
Tags: economy, standard of living, tax
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Research belies PM’s warning about OAS
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Jan. 31, 2012
“The analysis suggests that Canada does not face major challenges of financial sustainability with its public pension schemes,” and “there is no pressing financial or fiscal need to increase pension ages in the foreseeable future.”… That’s because, as Canada heads into the boomer crunch, it spends far less than the OECD average on public pensions. Further, Canada’s relatively high levels of immigration will partially offset the distortions of an aging population…
Tags: pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
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