« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
The Conservatives’ crime obsession is not magnificent
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Sep. 21, 2011
The government is obsessed with the tough-on-crime-and-drugs approach of the United States, even as U.S. conservatives move in the other direction – the Canadian one – because jail costs are outstripping investments in higher education… The government should also be spending some of its political capital, energy and money to address the causes of crime, including poor mental health, addictions and child poverty.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, economy, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
McGuinty’s economic activism faces off against pocketbook relief
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Sep. 21, 2011
We know that higher educational outcomes are correlated with economic success, and that Mr. McGuinty is singularly enthused with education, but we can’t be sure that his specific educational priorities will lead to that economic success… for the Tories, pocketbook relief predominates as the main way to grow the economy. It’s an increasingly familiar refrain, and a welcome one for many whose standard of living is declining. But whether pocketbook relief will actually create jobs the way the Tories say is an open question.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
It’s Tory heaven: a clear playing field
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Sep. 21, 2011
They have majorities in the House of Commons and the Senate. And with those majorities, they can do pretty much what they want… During the minority Conservative governments, pre- and post-recession, the size of government grew sharply… This is no Thatcherite, Tea Party or Reaganite crowd, although admirers of those approaches are part of the Conservative coalition. Instead, they’ve been more typically Conservative, delivering rhetoric about balanced budgets, lower taxes and smaller government, while delivering only lower taxes.
Tags: budget, ideology, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | 2 Comments »
Sweeping Conservative crime bill only ‘the beginning’
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
Sep. 20, 2011
Bill C-10, tabled in the Commons on Tuesday, combines nine separate bills that the Conservatives failed to enact into law during their minority government years… It will rewrite laws on the production and possession of drugs, on young offenders, parole and house arrest, pardons and anti-terrorism, among others… Opposition critics denounced the measures as retrograde and costly, but… In many cases, the Tories are increasing, or introducing, minimum sentences for offences… No MP relishes being labelled soft on crime.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology, rights
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
London riots rupture the ruling class
Sunday, September 18th, 2011
Sep. 17, 2011
Mr. Cameron denounced them as the product of the “slow-motion moral collapse” of British society… While everyone agrees the rioters were the product of a morally challenged community prone to family breakdown, these things are a symptom, not a cause… prisons… are being used too much and are actually producing criminality, not reducing it… an even larger problem lies in schools, which still allow – and often encourage – students to drop out at 16… Most of the rioters live in… grim postwar public-housing complexes (known as council estates)… last month the inner city finally came to call…
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
It’s time for an adult discussion about HST/GST
Friday, September 16th, 2011
September 16, 2011
It is long past time that the NDP – and Canadian progressives in general – made their peace with the GST/HST and appreciated its potential for reducing poverty and inequality… Concerns about the regressive nature of the GST/HST can be addressed by improving the system of credits that compensate low-income households. Indeed, research suggests that the most effective way of reducing poverty and inequality is – surprisingly enough – to provide low-income households with more money. The GST/HST tax credit can be used as a basis for an even more ambitious system of transfers at almost no additional administrative cost.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
Wanted: culture of innovation
Friday, September 16th, 2011
Sep. 16, 2011
our productivity growth has dropped substantially, from average growth of close to 3 per cent annually from 1961 to 1980, to under 1 per cent since 2000. And that gap between Canada and the U.S. has widened in the past decade, despite the relative improvement of macroeconomic fundamentals in our country…. Such innovation can be improved by five key drivers. First, competition matters to corporate behaviour… Second, Canada… delivers much of its private-sector innovation support through the tax system. We should be providing more direct support through new channels…
Tags: economy, globalization, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Ontario’s youth unemployment: We must step up the economic growth agenda
Thursday, September 15th, 2011
Sep. 13, 2011
With an unemployment rate (15.7 per cent) nearly double that of the average worker in the province, the number also masks the permanent effects that long-term high unemployment rates can bring. The list notably includes: (1) lower lifelong earnings… (2) the misallocation of talent… and (3) the psychological toll that ends up hurting not only the young workers themselves but their families and friends… To reverse that stubbornly high rate of unemployment for our young, we need to step up the growth agenda and leave aside any talk of micro-economic miracles.
Tags: economy, youth
Posted in Delivery System | No Comments »
Income inequality rising quickly in Canada
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
September 13, 2011
Canada has had the fourth-largest increase in income inequality among its peers. Between the mid-nineties and late 2000s, income inequality rose in 10 of 17 peer countries — including Canada… “Even though the U.S. currently has the largest rich-poor income gap among these countries, the gap in Canada has been rising at a faster rate,” noted Anne Golden, president and chief executive, adding that high inequality raises both “a moral question about fairness and can contribute to social tensions.”
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
It’s going to take more than free-market ideology to create jobs
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
Sep. 13, 2011
The dismal experience of Europe has proven that a single-minded focus on austerity and debt reduction is economically self-defeating… the next government should emphasize continuing support for public services and infrastructure, partnership with private sector capacity expansions, and more support for training and adjustment programs to prevent displaced workers of any age from falling by the wayside of the labour market. We also need stronger regulations to protect young workers from abuse by contract agencies and other unfair employers.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, standard of living, youth
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Recent Comments