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The limits of the welfare state [daycare]
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011
Apr. 26, 2011
Sweden has offered a comprehensive daycare system since 1975; since the early ’90s, negative outcomes for children and adolescents are on the rise in areas of health and behaviour. While direct causation has been difficult to prove, many Swedish health-care professionals point to the lack of parent involvement beyond the first 16 months as a primary contributing factor… After a generation of inexperience, Swedish parenting abilities are deteriorating… many middleclass parents lack the ability to set limits and sense their children’s needs.
Tags: child care, ideology, youth
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Just another reason to hit the help wanted ads [mortality rates]
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
Apr. 18, 2011
…unemployment increases the risk of early mortality by 63%… “There is, at least partially, a causal effect here between unemployment and mortality.”… But… being unemployed is just a symptom of the real ailment: poverty. Not having a job may be distressing, but it’s the inability to pay for quality goods like health care, and living space that will kill you… there is a proven link between mortality and lower socio-economic status…
Tags: economy, Health, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
A Communist Manifesto for Canada
Friday, April 15th, 2011
Apr. 14, 2011
… the Communist party is calling for a federal strategy for full employment. This must include action to stop and reverse the loss of manufacturing jobs; a massive program to build new social and non-profit housing; expansion of health care, education and social programs; a major investment in urban mass transit; and a shorter work week with no loss in pay. All of these measures would help increase employment levels and raise living standards.
Tags: economy, ideology, rights, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Minzbergism versus corporate tax cuts
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
Apr 11, 2011
In a market economy, a tax on profits forces a corporation to make more pretax profits to increase net after-tax profits. To increase pretax profits will mean either higher prices or, more likely, reduced spending — on wages, machinery, equipment — to boost profits. When the government raises taxes, it takes away money for wages and investment. If it cuts taxes, it makes more available for wages and investments. Or it might free up money for dividends, which would then be taxable in the hands of shareholders.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, tax
Posted in Debates | 1 Comment »
Profits – and people
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
Apr. 11, 2011
Important as tax levels are, they remain a relatively minor component of the investment equation. But there is no doubt that a favourable tax environment constitutes a crucial advantage for Canadian business. Rather than attempt to reverse the move towards lower taxation, good policy recommends further reductions-and even the elimination of corporate income taxes entirely.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
A political voice for indigenous Canadians
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
Apr. 12, 2011
The First Peoples National Party (FPNP) wishes to bring the value of inclusion to Parliament, by promoting a vision for Canada in which all peoples have a say in our future. The FPNP was formed to provide a voice, particularly for those who currently have no representation in our elitist party system: Indigenous Canadians… A country that excludes its indigenous peoples from all levels of government and education exhibits not only a colonial mentality, but commits a slow and steady cultural genocide
Tags: ideology, Indigenous, multiculturalism, participation, rights
Posted in Equality Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Who created Canada: Conservatives or coalition?
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
Apr 13, 2011
“Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister, a Conservative, was what media outlets like the CBC call ‘the architect of modern Canada,’” Mr. Soudas said…. if historians generally attribute the creation of Canada to a coalition, surely Mr. Harper didn’t intend to highlight the positive potential of a coalition, given his pejorative use of the word to dissuade people from supporting the Liberals this election… But as to creating Canada? The answer is it was a compromise.”
Tags: ideology, participation
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »
Party platforms show gaping divide between Toryworld and Liberal-land
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
Apr 12, 2011
The Conservatives believe Ottawa has a specific role in well-defined areas of responsibility and should stick to them; the Liberals see themselves ranging broadly over Canada, putting their hand in where they think there’s a need. The Conservatives believe budget certainty is key to providing other services, the Liberals see it as important but not a game-breaker… Mr. Harper’s government sees plenty more areas to come down hard on law-breaking, Mr. Ignatieff’s Liberals think the Tories are paranoid.
Tags: ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Harper refuses to identify spending cuts
Monday, April 11th, 2011
Apr 10, 2011
The party has pledged to cut $4-billion from the roughly $80-billion that federal departments spend directly to deliver government programs — less than a month after saying it imprudent to book those savings now in the federal budget tabled March 22… “Anybody who says that you can’t find money in Ottawa without cutting vital services to people, simply is living in a fantasy world,” Mr. Harper continued… But after four years, the government has only found $2.8-billion in ongoing savings.
Tags: budget, ideology, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
Don’t dismiss the so-cons
Friday, April 8th, 2011
Apr. 8, 2011
Cut across party lines and examine the faces standing with Senators and MPs in support of all-party reports about poverty in Canada, issued in 2009 and 2010 respectively, and you’ll see the presence of so-cons again. Poverty and homelessness aren’t typically identified as socially conservative issues in the media. But we don’t let the media define us… And, like Wilberforce, contemporary theo-cons are committed, not eccentric. And we’re not a spent force yet.
Tags: ideology, participation
Posted in Inclusion History | No Comments »
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