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Does it matter if our laws are passed illegally?
Friday, December 30th, 2011
Dec. 30, 2011
… if it is going to depart from a process of law-making that an earlier Parliament committed to, it must do so explicitly and repeal the legislation. Canadians should understand that at stake here is not just a technical point of law, but the integrity of parliamentary government… Legal challenges are reportedly under way – which isn’t surprising when you consider we have an act that has been judicially found to have been illegally introduced in Parliament.
Tags: ideology, rights
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
A banner year for the new conservative agenda
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
Dec. 27, 2011
It was a year in which a country built by moderate Liberals and moderate Tories saw the forces of moderation shrink… it was a big year for ideological advances. They came in such areas as crime and punishment, in foreign policy – where Canada has become one of the hawks of the Western world – on the gun registry, on citizenship and immigration, on the military, on the Wheat Board and on the environment… With his authoritarian, l’état c’est moi approach, Mr. Harper is starting to make Mr. Chrétien look like Twinkletoes.
Tags: ideology
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
The moose and the modern welfare state
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
Dec. 27, 2011
Sweden was perhaps the most fiscally disciplined of the EU countries, a discipline maintained since the 1990s when it hit the wall early on (as did Canada). In 2009, Sweden’s deficit was running at 0.9 per cent of GDP, the lowest in Europe. It became the only euro-club member to need no extraordinary fiscal restraint. Paradoxically, however, Sweden employs more public-sector workers, as a percentage of labour force, than any other OECD country: 31 per cent.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Tuition rebates for 310,000 Ontario students to begin in January
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
Dec. 27, 2011
The majority of college and university students in Ontario will be eligible for 30 per cent tuition rebates starting in the new year… rebates of $730 to each college student and $1,600 to each university student from families with incomes under $160,000 a year… but the Canadian Federation of Students says all students should get a tuition cut. The students’ group presented a 40,000-signature petition to the legislature asking that the $423-million annual cost of the rebates be used to pay for a 13 per cent across-the-board reduction in tuitions.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
How the resource boom is transforming our economy
Monday, December 26th, 2011
Dec. 20, 2011
The Canadian economy has undergone a fairly profound shift over the past 10 years… we are starting to see… (that) exploitation of natural resources leads to a decline in the manufacturing sector… Ontario, the province most reliant on manufacturing, is now the second largest recipient of federal equalization payments… We should use some of the proceeds of non-renewable natural resources development to foster growth in our truly renewable resource industries — such as information technology and life sciences.
Tags: economy, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
How one woman is trying to change native people’s health care experience
Monday, December 26th, 2011
Dec. 25, 2011
Dr. Smylie is a Toronto-based family physician and health researcher of Métis heritage who is looking for new ways of connecting aboriginal individuals with the health-care system to help reduce the high rates of chronic disease… She believes a big obstacle is that the health-care system wasn’t designed specifically with aboriginals in mind. Native Canadians have a distinct culture in which elders pass on vital information about parenting; midwives, rather than hospital-based doctors, help birth children; and age-old traditions play a major role.
Tags: Health, Indigenous, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
So-called tax breaks don’t shrink governments, they swell deficits
Monday, December 26th, 2011
Dec. 25, 2011
According to the theory, tax cuts don’t just spur private investment, they actually starve governments of the food they need to grow. The result is that swelling deficits quickly force governments to tighten their belts and become smaller… A thought-provoking study by Texas A&M economists Joseph Ura and Erica Socker concluded that “starving the beast” does exactly the opposite of the theory. And it’s at the root of the fiscal mess in the U.S. Tax cuts actually increase demand for government services…
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Prime Minister reshaping the way Canada is governed
Saturday, December 24th, 2011
Dec. 23, 2011
Tom Flanagan… sees Mr. Harper moving away from “executive federalism” – constant negotiations with the provinces – to a “more classical view” of federalism, in which constitutional jurisdictions are respected… [He is] not one for first ministers’ meetings and long, protracted negotiations… adamant that the provinces not be the ones deciding how much the federal government should spend… [or] try to impose standards or make provinces accountable for the funding… The provinces have expertise and operational responsibility for health and the federal government is nothing but a financial partner…
Tags: ideology, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Health-care funding: How Harper views the Canadian federation
Saturday, December 24th, 2011
Dec. 23, 2011
There have been some improvements in some areas; in others, not so much. The Martin accord bought peace, but it didn’t buy nearly enough innovation in health care. The federal approach announced this week finally recognizes that the levers of change for the health-care system reside in 13 provincial and territorial capitals, just like it says in the Constitution.
Tags: Health, ideology, rights
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Ottawa’s health plan: When money misses the point
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
Dec. 22, 2011
The provinces and territories have five years to figure out how to make health care sustainable on their own terms… After that, the Harper Government will contribute less, tying federal contributions to the growth in the economy, with a floor of 3 per cent… By 2017, when the deal ends, the annual transfer will have grown to $36-billion… it pales in comparison with the more than $220-billion dedicated to tax cuts since 2006, or the 20-year, $490-billion commitment to refurbishing military hardware… The $26-billion over five years could buy important reforms if it’s harnessed to that purpose…
Tags: budget, Health, ideology
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
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