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Rob Ford, the real candidate of inclusiveness
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
October 26, 2010
Mr. Ford’s victory represents more than just a backlash against elitist big spending. It represents a potential right turn in the voting patterns of Toronto’s immigrant communities… Inclusiveness for immigrants in Toronto means getting a good job so their children can enjoy a higher standard of living than their parents. Participating in society is not achieved through parades, but by climbing the economic ladder.
Tags: budget, ideology, multiculturalism
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
U.K. spending cuts foretell our future
Friday, October 22nd, 2010
October 20, 2010
The reforms certainly contain some dramatic policy moves, including cutting £18-billion ($29-billion) from some welfare payments, raising the age of eligibility for the national pension plan to 66 from 65, the loss of 500,000 government jobs and cuts to spending that average 19% over four years in most non-core government departments… economists now believe Canada’s long-run growth is likely limited to 2%, with nominal growth at maybe 4%. At that level, funding debt reduction is going to require more aggressive fiscal action than the reduction effort of the 1990s.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Stop giving premiers an excuse to spend recklessly. It’s time to end equalization payments
Friday, October 22nd, 2010
October 22, 2010
End transfer payments to the provinces. Let Ottawa give them greater room to tax their own residents, but let provincial legislatures also have to make the tough choice to increase taxes on their own citizens if the politicians want to spend more on health, education, welfare and other provincial functions Ottawa is now subsidizing… If provincial politicians can lay off some or all of the cost of their plans on taxpayers in other provinces — as our current transfers and equalization payments permit — there will be no incentive for them to make sound choices.
Tags: budget, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Tories get smart on native education
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
Oct. 19, 2010
… many Canadians would be shocked to learn the legislation governing education on most reserves remains the Indian Act of 1867… The Indian Act’s provisions regarding education are completely obsolete, colonialist and an embarrassment to Canada,” said Michael Mendelson, senior scholar at the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, who has long advocated a First Nations Education Act to fill the legislative void… it seems the Conservative government is coming around to the idea.
Tags: Indigenous, rights, standard of living
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
The rise of e-democracy
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
Oct. 12, 2010
The core of Integrated Service Delivery (ISD) is the creation of a seamless interface through which users can obtain information, download and submit forms, purchase licences and ask questions. When that single point of contact is online, the time and effort citizens must spend dealing with different departments, or jurisdictions, is substantially reduced. The revolutionary aspect of e-government services, beyond savings and accuracy, remains the potential technology has to produce rapid change. Technology, it seems, can bring voters closer to their democratic institutions and increase participation in the discussion of public policy.
Tags: budget, featured, participation, standard of living
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Give family docs more freedom
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
Oct. 12, 2010
What causes our shortage of family doctors? …according to a 2005 report from the CFPC, the main reason is money: “[A] lack of remuneration is the leading cause of a decline in medical students choosing to take up family practice. It is also the prevailing reason why family doctors are forced to close their practices.”… Instead of fighting market forces, through a rationed, monopoly-payer system, Canada should allow family doctors to practise both public and private medicine.
Tags: Health, ideology, privatization
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
‘First Nations unfairly funded for basic services’
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
October 12, 2010
First Nation communities that have moved forward through negotiation or settlement to advance their own jurisdiction and responsibilities, are fully transparent, accountable and demonstrate a level of service that is yielding real results. These First Nation governments exercise full responsibility and have democratic participation rates in leadership and other processes that are far stronger than anywhere else in this country. If First Nation people are “furious” about anything, it’s the unfair funding in critical areas that directly affect the well-being of our children
Tags: Indigenous, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Accountability on reserves
Saturday, October 9th, 2010
Oct. 9, 2010
The chiefs have no legal requirement to disclose their remuneration to Canadians. Even local natives have trouble jumping through the bureaucratic hoops necessary to find such information… But as we see it, the greatest threat to the image of First Nations people isn’t legislation aimed at bringing their communities into line with modern standards of good governance and transparency. Rather, it is the native leaders who, through their own AFN mouthpiece, cynically circle the wagons in defence of their cash and powers.
Tags: Indigenous
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Taking the socialist out of the NDP
Friday, October 8th, 2010
October 7, 2010
As the NDP prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary at a convention next June, senior staff are busy re-writing the preamble to the party’s constitution… The preamble currently states the NDP believes in the need “to modify and control the operation of the monopolistic productive and distributive organizations through economic and social planning, … where necessary [through] the principle of social ownership.” …part of a broader “overhaul” of NDP policy and beliefs… “There’s no more mention of a radical overthrowing of capitalism … Socialism is a word we don’t use,”
Tags: economy, ideology
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Are we sliding into a tyranny of good intentions?
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010
October 4, 2010
“Debt, intemperance and incompetence in rearing our children are no doubt regrettable – but they are vices, and – left alone – they will soon lead to the pain that corrects. Life is a better teacher of virtue than politicians and most sensible governments in the past have left moral faults to the churches. “The point is that governments have no business telling us how to live…”
Tags: ideology, rights
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
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