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The Liberals are talking pension reform
Monday, November 8th, 2010
Nov. 7, 2010
… the federal Liberals deserve praise for going where they should logically fear to tread. According to a party “white paper”… they are now contemplating an election platform that would include a voluntary supplemental pension plan and would ease the rules that currently limit retroactive payments for late claimants of Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits to one year… Any attempt at pension reform should look at the whole picture, not just savings vehicles.
Tags: economy, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Keith Martin: Do’s and Don’ts for reforming health care
Monday, November 8th, 2010
November 8, 2010
Dr. Keith Martin, the Liberal MP, is continuing his campaign to encourage a realistic debate over health care reform (as opposed to just talking about it, which is the preferred option in Ottawa and 10 out of 10 provinces). His suggestion last month that Canadians should have the right to pay for health care outside the system if they wished had his own party doing backflips to separate themselves from his dangerous ideas… But Martin isn’t backing down. Today he expanded his view with a list of criteria for repairing the system…
Tags: Health, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
New records show the power of lobbying
Monday, November 8th, 2010
Nov. 7, 2010
Lobbyists bent the ear of MPs and senators nearly 700 times in a little over a month… That works out to an average of more than 17 contacts between Canadian parliamentarians and lobbyists each business day — seven times as many contacts as lobbyists declared with cabinet ministers over the same period… Duff Conacher, co-ordinator of Democracy Watch, a non-partisan advocacy group, said the records show only the tip of the iceberg. He said there is a lot of “hidden lobbying” of MPs on Parliament Hill, because the law is full of holes…
Tags: ideology, participation
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
CPP is in need of a boost
Sunday, November 7th, 2010
Nov. 6, 2010
… consultant Greg Hurst… identifies six “myths” propagated by Big CPP proponents. One is that CPP operates as a standalone program. Many employer pensions are integrated with CPP so any expansion of contributions and benefits will impact the rest of the system. Another myth is that CPP is inexpensive to administer. Perhaps most serious is the notion that CPP is self-funded and imposes no tax burden. Public-sector employers pushing for a big CPP are funded by taxpayers… as are CPP contributions made by those employers.
Tags: pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Finding ways to health-care innovation
Saturday, November 6th, 2010
November 6, 2010
Defenders of the status quo in Canadian health care reacted with the usual outrage when they discovered Ontario hospitals had ascertained a legal way to expand the use of MRIs and CT scans so that they served more people and spent less time sitting unused… Medicare rules allow “third parties” to seek care outside the public system… hospitals are increasingly embracing the opportunity this provides to make greater use of equipment and reduce waits, while earning extra revenue.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Ignatieff ‘s odd plan to raise productivity
Thursday, November 4th, 2010
Nov. 3, 2010
Instead of dissembling about “investing” in the country’s future by repairing roads, building community centres and funding daycare, our elected officials should call it like it is. They are spending the public’s money to provide them with goods and services — some needed, some not, but also redistributing wealth to raise certain groups’ standard of living, and padding pet projects for electoral gain.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Taking ownership of their land
Monday, November 1st, 2010
Nov. 1, 2010
… our people have suffered from a credit crisis ever since the Indian Act was passed. That is a 140-year depression. This legislation will help to end that. It will allow members to earn equity and borrow against it. We will finally be able to take out mortgages and business loans on our own lands as easily as anyone else… If we choose, we can abandon the paternalistic practice of having lands held in trust and overcome the constraints of a 19th century Indian Act.
Tags: economy, Indigenous, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Fighting the new ‘normal’ [retirement benefits]
Saturday, October 30th, 2010
Oct. 30, 2010
BMO has released a report — When to Retire, Age Matters — that may cause Canadians to emulate Germany and keep working as long as possible. This is counter to a brief vogue when Canadians sought earlier retirement. In the 1970s, the median retirement age was 65, which fell to 60.6 by 1997. But it edged up to 61 in 2005… the simplest fix would be to raise — perhaps double — the base annual earnings on which CPP is calculated. Currently, it’s around $47,000. Doubling it to $94,000 would almost double benefits but not the required contributions from employees and employers.
Tags: pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
‘(W)e were organized and it was permitted and we did it’
Friday, October 29th, 2010
October 29, 2010
… the federal Parliament’s Board of Internal Economy finally agreed to end the practice of out-of-riding “ten-percenters”. Previously, Members of Parliament had the right – and the budgets – to send these flyers into opposition MPs’ electoral districts, in a number not exceeding ten percent of their own constituency, to promote their party’s views… 47 of the top 50 spenders on “ten percenters” in 2009-10 were Conservative MPs… Overall, MPs from all parties spent $10,182,707.71 on the mailouts.
Tags: budget, ideology
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Middle-class Canadians are still waiting for a federal champion
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
October 26, 2010
Polls have shown little change in voter preference over the last few years. To date, no federal party has managed to capture our hearts and minds. Canadians are still waiting for a political party to show them how it will make Canada a better place for our children and grandchildren. When that happens the numbers will change. Until then Canadians watch, wait and evaluate.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
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