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Occupiers are blaming the wrong people
Monday, November 7th, 2011
Nov. 06, 2011
It’s not the greedy Wall Street bankers who destroyed these people’s hopes. It’s the virtueocracy itself. It’s the people who constructed a benefit-heavy entitlement system whose costs can no longer be sustained. It’s the politicians and union leaders who made reckless pension promises that are now bankrupting cities and states… In Canada, it’s the social progressives who assure us we can keep on consuming all the health care we want, even as the costs squeeze out other public goods.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax, youth
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Another ‘inconvenient truth’: We’re getting older
Sunday, November 6th, 2011
Nov. 05, 2011
The tipping point is this: In 2011, the oldest of the baby boomer generation reaches 65. From now on, Canada’s population profile will slowly age… The consequences will be twofold: Government revenue growth will fall, and government spending obligations will rise. Thus, there’ll be unavoidable pressure for higher taxes or spending cuts, or both… the aging of the population will force us to talk about two options that make most Canadians nervous: higher taxes or significantly changed public programs.
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
There is no crime epidemic
Friday, November 4th, 2011
Nov. 04, 2011
A recent thorough study of homicides by Tina Hotton Mahony of Statistics Canada lays all the facts before Canadians. It’s too bad – indeed, it’s a tragedy – that these sorts of facts have no influence on the Harper government’s expensive and counterproductive, politically motivated “tough on crime” agenda… this is the government that abolished the long-form census, the method every statistician here and abroad said would produce the most accurate facts. In that file, as in criminal justice and others, it’s a government that either looks simple facts in the face and denies them, or willfully disregards them.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, featured, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Raitt’s Three Principles for labour relations only run one way
Friday, November 4th, 2011
Nov. 02, 2011
In Hamilton, where workers held little power, the government stood idly by. It seems it’s only when workers have some leverage that it acts powerfully to “protect the economy.” …there’s no doubt work stoppages cause inconvenience and disruption. But because something is unpopular or inconvenient hardly gives government the moral authority to take away rights, making up the law as it goes – even if it does hold a majority of seats in Parliament.
Tags: economy, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Tory crime bill is too tough on the provinces
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
Nov. 02, 2011
Ottawa’s crime agenda could cost the provinces billions of dollars over the next few years, and… Quebec and Ontario say they will refuse to pay. The tough-on-crime omnibus bill now before Parliament is hardly a sterling example of co-operative federalism. It is heavy-handed federal policy-making, which (along with some previous crime bills) will cost the provinces dearly… How should Quebec and Ontario pay for extra prison costs – by cutting education, health care, daycare? By raising taxes?
Tags: budget, corrections, ideology
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Stretched food banks a measure of Canada’s frail recovery
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
Nov. 01, 2011
… recipients span the spectrum. Nearly 100,000 of them are first-time users and one in five actually has a job or has recently been employed. More than one in ten are immigrants or refugees – many of whom are highly educated, and usage is growing among seniors… The findings show 18 per cent of food-bank recipients are part of the working poor – people who have earnings from a current or recent job… Almost half of recipients are women and girls. One in ten is aboriginal. One in four are individuals from dual-parent families with kids.
Tags: budget, disabilities, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Expand the capital gains exemption to pre-empt a charitable crisis
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
Oct. 31, 2011
Our charities cannot expect significant funding increases from government. But they do have an opportunity to access additional financing from the private sector that is more tax effective than direct government support. The 2006 federal budget measure that eliminated the remaining capital gains tax on gifts of listed securities has been an enormous success. Every year since then, Canadian charities have received donations in the form of listed securities of more than $1-billion…
Tags: economy, ideology, philanthropy, standard of living, tax
Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »
New social impact bond targets the greater good
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
Oct. 31, 2011
Champions of social finance foresee a world in which profit motives and the greater good move in tandem. They are hoping that investors will evaluate potential investments not only according to how big the return might be, but also according to how much good it will do. The approach could revolutionize the way social programs are delivered… One of the barriers that stands in the way of convincing investors to put their money into social impact investments is the need for a standard, reliable set of metrics to quantify social impacts.
Tags: ideology, philanthropy, standard of living, tax
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
Why aren’t we talking about income inequality?
Saturday, October 29th, 2011
Oct. 29, 2011
In Canada, we have fussed a great deal about equality, but not of the income kind. Instead, we’ve spent much money and changed laws to deal with equality of regions and equality (or equity) of ethnicity and gender. In 2011-2012, the federal government will spread $14.7-billion around Canada under the equalization program, which is enshrined in the Constitution… It’s a jerry-rigged system based on a formula no mere mortal can understand, and it produces bizarre results… Income inequality, however, seems to be the kind of inequality that Canadians don’t talk about much.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
In Harper’s Canada, will we give more of ourselves to get lower taxes?
Saturday, October 29th, 2011
Oct. 29, 2011
Canadians will still enjoy universal public health care and near-universal public education. There will still be subsidized housing, welfare and unemployment insurance. The foundations of the social state will remain intact. But in an era where fiscally restrained governments confront rising need created by economic turmoil, the private sector must do more. And the private sector is each of us. Canadians don’t really give a lot to charity, compared to their U.S. counterparts… Tax cuts have consequences.
Tags: economy, ideology, philanthropy, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »
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