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No charges against Canadians who parked funds in tax havens
Friday, January 7th, 2011
Jan. 7, 2011
… of 106 Canadians with bank accounts in the offshore tax haven of Liechtenstein, nobody has been prosecuted and nobody has been fined. While the agency has collected more than $5-million in back taxes and interest from Liechtenstein account holders, critics say the CRA isn’t doing enough to crack down on those hiding assets offshore to escape Canadian taxes… Paille said the government has a double standard, going after waitresses and taxi drivers “to death” while very high earners are encouraged to make voluntary declarations.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Feds to step in with pension plan reforms
Monday, December 27th, 2010
Dec. 26, 2010
Ottawa is planning changes to company pension plan rules that fall under federal jurisdiction in a bid to help the plans weather short-term downturns and better protect workers…. The proposal would require a plan sponsor to fully fund pension plan benefits when a plan is terminated and allow sponsors, plan members, and retirees of a plan in trouble to negotiate a plan restructuring… the Superintendent of Financial Institutions estimated that 83% of all defined benefit pension plans that fell under federal jurisdiction were underfunded with estimated liabilities exceeding assets.
Tags: pensions, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
The right kind of pension reform
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010
Dec. 22, 2010
Increasing CPP contributions… is the stick, forcing Canadians to save, but via the heavy hand of the state. Providing investment vehicles to incentivize savings, such as the Tax Free Savings Account and the new PRPP, is the carrot. Like us, the Tories appear to prefer the carrot-based approach, which respects the ethos of personal responsibility and choice.
Tags: ideology, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
We don’t really know (private vs public pensions)
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
Dec. 21, 2010
Only two major OECD countries, France and Germany, have pension systems that give their average retiree a higher percentage of average pre-retirement disposable income… Moreover, it is by no means clear that Canadians will now lack sufficient retirement income to live independently and with dignity. Poverty among Canadian seniors is among the lowest in the OECD, so our retirement system is not failing the least well off. And the wealthy are generally retiring comfortably. So if there’s a problem, it lies in the middle.
Tags: pensions, privatization, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Canada’s wishful thinking pension program
Monday, December 20th, 2010
December 20, 2010
Much as it violates official National Post dogma, the premiers appear to have reality on their side… Study after study shows that only a minority put any money into an RRSP, and usually only a fraction of what they’re allowed… As with Ottawa’s other voluntary plans, it sounds like a perfectly reasonable idea that would work great, except that the vast majority of people — especially those who need it — would never go near it… It’s easy to say it’s their own problem if they’re unwilling to prepare, but in the end they’ll end up turning to the state to look after them anyway.
Tags: ideology, pensions, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Mental block: Opposers of Mad Pride protest anti-psychiatrist
Sunday, December 19th, 2010
Dec. 18, 2010
Professor Neree St-Amand… has a view of mental illness that is common in his academic field, but at odds with the mainstream. He thinks psychiatrists aim to control people, who then become fat and suicidal, with no libido, hating themselves… He thinks psychiatrists mislead the mentally ill about the risks and benefits of drugs, discouraging them against other options, such as spirituality, nutrition and yoga. He is blunt… “If people cared for their people, then it changes a lot of the problems.”
Tags: Health, ideology, mental Health
Posted in Health Debates | 3 Comments »
We all pay for protectionism
Friday, December 17th, 2010
Dec. 17, 2010
… a new deal with Europe could now be jeopardized by the Canadian government’s quashing of two foreign takeover bids in the past three years. Understandably alarmed, the Europeans are asking that Canada give their companies “national treatment” in CETA, which means that the federal government would have to let them play by the same rules as domestic businesses… Takeovers would still be subject to rules on competition, for example, but could not be blocked on the amorphous grounds of “national interest.”
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
No surgery needed [CPP]
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
Dec. 15, 2010
Some modest increase in CPP to provide more defined-benefit arrangements makes some sense. However, bringing in higher payroll taxes at a time when the Canadian economy is on the rocks is rather bad timing. When federal, provincial and territorial ministers of finance meet just before the holidays, they should first focus on low-hanging fruit, such as regulatory changes, and put off CPP expansion until the economy is in better shape.
Tags: pensions, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Tories revive corporate welfare politics
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
December 14, 2010
Pratt & Whitney owes taxpayers at least $1.2 billion dating back more than 13 years. David Lewis, who coined the term “corporate welfare bums” almost 40 years ago, must be turning over in his grave… According to Clement’s press secretary, “hypothetically, without the project, the workforce would have shrunk.”… The corporation hasn’t taken any risk. The taxpayers have. The loan is entirely interest-free because it’s being offered under an official government program.
Tags: budget, ideology
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
More power to the patient
Monday, December 13th, 2010
December 13, 2010
Reforms enacted by Ontario’s Ministry of Health aren’t what we need. The province is fiddling with physicians’ payment schemes, so that doctors bill according to the number of patients they see, rather than the sort of care they provide… Nor will… family health teams provide much help. So rather than investing in family health teams, shouldn’t the province direct its scarce resources toward supplying us with more physicians? …competition among doctors would shift the power dynamic… from the government and health care providers to the clients.
Tags: Health, privatization
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
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