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Fixing EI: Getting beyond regionalism
Saturday, January 22nd, 2011
Jan. 20, 2011
Although the EI system does represent a real transfer of wealth between provinces, solutions to EI’s problems will not be found in a simple reversal of regional redistribution. The cure for what ails the program is much more complex. The country needs a new system that reflects the shifts in labour market patterns that have taken place in every Canadian province. This does not necessarily require more money.
Tags: standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
We’ve become a wimpy state, as well as a nanny state
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
January 20, 2011
… public institutions such as universities, museums and galleries, apparently care not a whit about free expression or individual choice. Their first instinct is to crater to protestors; let the forces of oppression and extremism have their way. Forget about preserving democracy and open debate, officials will act as the forces of censorship want. The trouble with refusing to stand up to threats of protest is that it just begets more threats. For as long as cowardly officials are going to give in, hate-filled activists are going to be encouraged to keep uttering threats.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Take the politics out of Employment Insurance
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
Jan. 19, 2011
… despite the creation of the new Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board (CEIFB), the setting of premium rates is still vulnerable to political and partisan influence. Canada should remove politicians and partisan politics from the rate-setting process entirely and grant the CEIFB the same independence to set EI premiums as the Bank of Canada enjoys with respect to interest rates.
Tags: economy, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Yesterday’s EI is failing today’s Canada
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
Employment Insurance in Canada is broken… But attempts at serious reform, such as Lloyd Axworthy’s Social Security Review in 1994, always come up against the same old story in Canada: regional politics. It is time for those outside government to identify a new model to help Canada’s unemployed. We can’t wait for the federal government to act. Canadians need to provide it with a path forward–and the necessary national consensus that this path is the right one.
Tags: economy, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Why the Irish aren’t impressed
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
Jan. 12, 2011
This week, the Irish Times newspaper published a large report on Canada’s growing healthcare crisis. In a piece entitled “Another health system coming apart at the seams,” the Times describes the “bursting” waiting room at Montreal’s Royal Victoria Hospital… Apart from North Korea, Canada is the only country that prohibits health-care services covered by its public system to be also provided by the private market.
Tags: Health, ideology, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Why the Tories will win the prison expansion political battle
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
January 12, 2011
Our crime rate is trending down. It’s the politics of fear, say the opposition parties… the Tories will win this battle, anyway. So long as our criminal justice system keeps giving average voters a reason to want to see the system “fixed,” the party promising to do that will get the votes… Rehabilitation is great, redemption is dandy, but when Canadians get the sense that criminals are getting off lightly, and that that problem can be made to go away by spending a mere few billion dollars, they will vote for that.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Corporate tax relief no ‘magic’ solution: Ignatieff
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
Jan. 12, 2011
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff tried to debunk Wednesday findings from the Canadian manufacturing lobby on the positive impact corporate tax cuts would have on employment levels… Cutting business taxes would do nothing more than fatten corporate profits, he told reporters… “I will tell you what creates jobs and investment. It is investment in education and investing in maintaining the standard of living of middle-class Canadians.”… The Liberals have pledged that, if elected, corporate tax levels would be scaled back to 18%, or 2010 levels.
Tags: budget, economy, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Government’s tough on crime agenda is bad policy
Tuesday, January 11th, 2011
January 10, 2011
The main reason for the explosion in prison building is the government’s tough on crime agenda, including the abolition of the two-for-one pre-trial custody credit, which will lead to a significant increase in the number of criminals incarcerated… The Liberals have made this “wasteful” spending central to their message, pointing out that the country can ill-afford such expenditure at a time of declining crime rates. They say that the Harper government is investing in “U.S.-style mega-prisons” at a time when the Americans are retreating from such a model because it doesn’t work.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Flaherty’s choice
Monday, January 10th, 2011
January 10, 2011
A two-year stimulus package was introduced in 2009, which meant that the 2010 budget didn’t have much to say… The story in 2010Q2-2010Q3 isn’t one of Canada lagging behind so much as the other G7 countries catching up… So should we embark on a round of austerity to deal with the deficit? Well, no: the recovery isn’t really complete. Yes, total employment has recovered its pre-recession peak, but important series such as full-time employment, private-sector employment and hours worked have not.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Subsidizing separatism [subsidies to federal political parties]
Sunday, January 9th, 2011
Jan. 8, 2011
There are many problems with Canada’s system of public, taxpayer-funded subsidies to federal political parties. The three biggest are: (1) The payments subsidize incumbency…; (2) they force taxpayers to subsidize parties and ideologies with which they disagree…; and (3) they make parties lazy by permitting them to rely on easy dollars from the public treasury, rather than having to go out and earn their donations through the creation of attractive platforms.
Tags: ideology, participation
Posted in Governance Delivery System | 1 Comment »
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