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Ottawa grabs the attention, but the provinces face the heavy lifting
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
Mar. 23, 2011
It remains to be seen how exactly the province will achieve the monumental challenge of flattening health care’s cost curve, which was at the centre of the long-term deficit-reduction plan that Mr. Duncan introduced last year… The federal government… doesn’t face the same crunch, largely because it doesn’t deliver health care – a program that will continue to get more expensive because of an aging population and the ever-increasing costs of new technologies and treatments.
Tags: budget, economy, Health
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Canadians surprisingly divided over education, religion, in-depth poll reveals
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
Mar. 22, 2011
… whereas conservatives are more likely to embrace a world view that seeks certainty and abhors ambiguity, and hold the belief that morality is more important than knowledge, most poll respondents believe that science and expertise are undervalued in the country and see Canada moving toward a more knowledge-based society.
Tags: ideology, participation
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
The hiss factor and the art of taxation
Monday, March 21st, 2011
Mar. 21, 2011
… what do finance ministers whose top priority is to stimulate economic growth but who need to get sufficient political support to implement their budget program do? They offer a tax-reduction package that combines the top items from Table A (cuts to capital and/or corporate income taxes) with the top items from Table B (cuts to sales taxes and/or income taxes on low- and middle-income earners). In other words, they try to secure the political capital required to implement stimulative tax cuts by also cutting those taxes with the highest hiss factor.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Does hike in minimum wage cut poverty? Findings say no
Friday, March 18th, 2011
March 18, 2011
Discussions about the effects of increasing the minimum wage are usually dominated by its possible effects on employment. But an unspoken assumption underlying the debate is that increasing the minimum wage does in fact reduce poverty. This assumption turns out to be at odds with the evidence… two recent empirical studies – one for Ontario, another for Quebec – show that the intersection between those who earn minimum wage and those who are in low-income households is surprisingly small.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Quebec takes lead in pension reform
Friday, March 18th, 2011
Mar. 17, 2011
Quebec is hoping to pave the way for the rest of Canada by introducing sweeping changes to how Quebeckers plan for retirement, including a new pension program for workers who don’t have private plans…. Under the voluntary plan, employees will be enrolled automatically but will be given the option to withdraw. Employers will be forced to offer the plan but will not be required to contribute. The money collected in each workplace will be pooled and managed by financial institutions.
Tags: budget, participation, pensions, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Ottawa’s GST cut a mistake
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
March 16, 2011
It’s getting harder and harder to view the Conservative government’s cuts to the GST as anything other than a mistake. When the idea was first raised, economists were unanimous in their criticism: even if you were in favour of lower taxes and a smaller government, the GST would have been the very last item on the agenda. Cutting other taxes – most notably corporate and perhaps personal income taxes – would have produced efficiency gains and increased incomes. The GST was and is the federal tax that is least harmful to economic growth, and should have been left alone.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Provinces, health-care providers hold out hope for help in budget
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
Mar. 15, 2011
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has repeatedly stressed that health care is the purview of the provinces… but Ms. Leslie said she would like to see some acknowledgment by the Harper government that it has a role to play in health care – especially if that meant budget money for items like home care and pharmacare that she said would save money in the long run.
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
New alternative budget would raise taxes on firms, rich
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
Mar. 15, 2011
The think-tank would roll back corporate tax cuts, create two new tax brackets for high-income Canadians, and cancel the F-35 fighter jet program. It would also establish a national carbon tax and a 28-per cent tax rate for the oil patch. The money saved and generated could go into programs that would create new jobs, reduce income disparity, rebuild infrastructure, improve pension benefits and help the environment
Tags: featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Why we need the OMB more than ever
Monday, March 14th, 2011
Mar. 11, 2011
Rather than thwarting democracy, the OMB aids it. When Nimbyism is on the rise, as it is today, the interests of a vocal few can overwhelm the interests of the majority. In this case, the common good calls for denser, taller development at key points in the city. Without it, Toronto will never be able to accommodate its booming population growth without endless urban sprawl. As a check on unreasonable Nimbyism, the OMB is needed more than ever.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
The next job bubble to burst may be yours, professionals
Monday, March 14th, 2011
Mar. 12, 2011
Not so long ago, everyone believed knowledge workers were generally sheltered from the more dramatic upheavals of the economy. In the past few decades, as middle-class incomes stagnated and good blue-collar jobs disappeared, the professional class did extraordinarily well. Lawyers, accountants, tenured university professors, architects and even the ink-stained wretches of the press have had pretty good lives. But now, global competition, relentless cost pressures and technological change are hitting the professional class, too. Few will be left unscathed.
Tags: economy, globalization, standard of living, youth
Posted in Debates | 31 Comments »
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