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BoC’s former No. 2 sets out a plan for the G20
Saturday, April 9th, 2011
April 8, 2011
G20 governments have a responsibility to create the local political conditions to allow for policies that are good for the global economy, rather than just the domestic economy… current economic models do a poor job at predicting how changes in domestic policies will ripple through the global system. With that analysis in place, countries should publish an “international impact assessment” with each domestic policy that could affect other countries. The G20 also should draw up a “schedule of cooperation.” The idea is to bolster accountability.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
On health care, calling Jean Chrétien [transfer limits]
Saturday, April 9th, 2011
Apr. 08, 2011
Ottawa has given away any leverage it might have had in negotiations, now that Mr. Ignatieff included the 6-per-cent clause in his platform promises, and Mr. Harper put it in his platform budgetary projections. The government will be little more than a bank for the provinces… Without pressure for efficiency, the system will drag down government, and personal, budgets… the role of government leaders is to protect medicare (from itself, if necessary), other services and taxpayers, not give away the store.
Tags: budget, Health, tax
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
What are Canadians really afraid of when it comes to crime?
Saturday, April 9th, 2011
Apr. 09, 2011
Again and again – at least 16 times between 1956 and 2003 – knowledgeable and brain-studded parliamentary committees have concluded that where sentences and jail time are concerned, “preference should be given to the least restrictive alternative” (1982) because (1993) “costly repressive measures … fail to deter crime.”… So the Harper government’s stance defies not just evidence but half a century of Canadian intellectual tradition… Tough-on-crime sentiment may be difficult to justify logically, but it is easy to feel. The question is, why has it become seductive to more and more of us?
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, featured, ideology
Posted in Child & Family History | 2 Comments »
Action, not excuses, on drug coverage
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
Apr. 06, 2011
The philosophical/moral arguments for pharmacare are powerful and compelling. The economic ones are almost as strong… The key to a viable drug insurance program is cost control and firm regulation. That’s why these programs work in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In Canada we talk endlessly about how much drugs costs; we should be instead talking about how we can make essential drugs affordable for individuals and the collectivity.
Tags: budget, Health, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Debates | 1 Comment »
The opposition hurts itself by defending political subsidies
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
Apr. 07, 2011
The opposition leadership needs to learn a simple principle of political controversy: There are no votes in defending what is plainly your self-interest. The effective response to Mr. Harper’s proposed reform isn’t to ask the voters to rein him in. It’s to run ahead of him. There’s plenty of room for that. The partial reform Mr. Harper proposes will still leave the parties with plenty of money, in the wrong place… Reform legislation should put it where it belongs, in the constituency associations of a party’s members.
Tags: ideology, participation, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Middle class in decline is the electoral elephant in the room
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
April 7, 2011
Fewer people in the public service means fewer people earning middle-class pay with decent benefits and pensions. Unless the private sector stops urging downward pressure on wages, benefits and pensions, this purchasing power will not be replaced. Fewer people working in the public service also means poorer public services, or less of them. Less income, less service — this is not a recipe for growing the middle class, or a solid platform for future economic growth.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | 2 Comments »
Sun burns CBC in bid to hype tabloid TV
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
Apr. 05, 2011
Since the writ was dropped 10 days ago, the Sun chain of newspapers has run more than half a dozen articles accusing the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation of political bias, effectively running parallel commercial and ideological campaigns. The attacks are helping to fuel the chain’s ongoing marketing campaign for the April 18 launch of Sun TV, which is promising “Hard News and Straight Talk.”… As a public broadcaster, the CBC says it goes to extraordinary lengths to ensure its journalism is free of bias… Sun Media has no such restrictions: Indeed, its biases are a part of its appeal.
Tags: ideology, participation
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Drug costs shouldn’t impoverish Canadians
Monday, April 4th, 2011
Apr. 03, 2011
It is the one area in Canadian medicare where people can lose their homes to pay for health costs… It would be worth having an objective body such as the Health Council of Canada review the plans (or absence of plans) in each province and territory to determine how severe the shortfalls are, where they are, and how much it would cost to make sure Canadians are protected against disaster. Instead of aiming at a perfect plan for all, this country should set a minimum acceptable level, and ensure that all provinces meet it.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Drug coverage by province/territory
Monday, April 4th, 2011
Apr. 03, 2011
If a Canadian had a $20,000 annual drug bill, earned the average Canadian household income of $76,400 and had no private drug insurance, the out-of-pocket costs would vary widely from province to province, from $0 to $20,000. If there were a catastrophic drug plan – one in which patients spend no more than 3 per cent of family income – the results would be much different. No patient would pay more than $2,292
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
How to wipe out seniors’ poverty, no extra charge
Sunday, April 3rd, 2011
April 2, 2011
In 2007, the Harper government introduced income splitting of pensions… About three quarters (74 per cent) went to households making more than $60,000… less than a quarter of all seniors’ households had incomes above $60,000… If we took that money and targeted it to Canada’s 634,000 poorest seniors, they would each get $1,450 more a year. Enough to make a huge difference in their daily lives. Enough to get rid of poverty.
Tags: budget, ideology, pensions, standard of living, tax, women
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 1 Comment »
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