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Loyola’s good fight
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
Jun. 28, 2010
In 2008, the Quebec government introduced a grade-school course titled “Ethics and Religious Culture” (ECR), to replace the religion courses previously offered by the province’s schools. Compulsory in all public and private institutions, ECR presents all religions on a morally relativistic footing, and devotes considerable weight to the history of liberal social movements. The introduction of ECR generated opposition among parents who saw it as an exercise in social engineering.
Tags: ideology, rights
Posted in Education Debates | 2 Comments »
The HST is good for you. Yes it is. Is too
Monday, June 21st, 2010
June 21, 2010
Opponents of harmonization claim that the elimination of sales taxes on business inputs and the expansion of the sales tax base would result in a shift of the tax burden from business to individuals. However, such a view ignores that the ultimate burden of all taxes falls on people in the form of higher prices, lower wages, or reduced rates of return… The HST is a significantly more efficient sales tax system that will improve the investment climates in both provinces and ultimately benefit Canadians through more opportunities, higher rates of economic growth and increased prosperity.
Tags: economy, globalization, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Supreme Court upholds restrictions on government documents
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Jun. 17, 2010
In a unanimous 7-0 decision, the court concluded that the freedom of expression protection in the Charter of Rights does not guarantee “access to all documents in government hands.” The ruling overturns a decision in the Ontario Court of Appeal… “Some information… is… entitled to protection in order to prevent the impairment of those very principles and promote good governance.”
Tags: participation, rights
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Family income in Canada flatlined in 2008
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Jun. 17, 2010
Statistics Canada reported Thursday that the median, post-tax income — after adjusting for inflation — in 2008 was $63,900… The federal agency also noted there were three million low-income Canadians in 2008 — no more or less than in 2007 — representing 9.4% of the population.
Tags: poverty, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Health-care user fees won’t work
Friday, June 11th, 2010
Jun. 11, 2010
Putting aside the wrong-headed assumption that people go to their health provider for frivolous reasons, there is an obvious reason why Shaun Francis’s arguments don’t hold water. The problem with user fees is that they act as a barrier to access, especially for persons with lower incomes. Research shows that preventive health services are the best way to ensure the health of people and ensure acute illnesses do not develop into life-long chronic problems.
Tags: Health, poverty
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Ontario MDs: Let’s make our system better
Monday, June 7th, 2010
Jun. 7, 2010
We know there a couple of areas where more work needs to be done, but there have also been a number of significant successes that should not be overlooked. In the past six years Ontario’s doctors have helped more than 1.2 million people who previously didn’t have access to a family doctor find one, including 600,000 since 2008. There are over 2,000 more physicians practising in the province and more medical school spaces, and more physicians are choosing to become family doctors.
Tags: Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
A new pension deal
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
June 1, 2010
The requirements for an improved retirement savings system have to include cost-effectiveness and adequacy while reaching a broad base of Canadians. The infrastructure, expertise, capacity and proven cost-efficiency to meet those requirements already exists in the private financial service sector’s workplace-based retirement savings programs, including pensions, group RRSPs and deferred profit-sharing plans. These capital accumulation plans have grown 70% in eight years and the potential for increased participation is clear…
Tags: pensions, standard of living
Posted in Debates | 1 Comment »
Canada’s teen pregnancy rates fall sharply
Monday, May 31st, 2010
May 26, 2010
Teen pregnancy rates have fallen more steeply in Canada over the last decade than in the United States, England or Sweden, a new study shows. Between 1996 and 2006, the most recent year for which information is available for all four countries, Canada’s teen pregnancy rate declined in each consecutive year, falling from 44.2 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 in 1996 to to 27.9 in 2006. That represents a 36.9% decline over the course of a decade, compared to a 25% decline in the U.S., a 4.75% dip in England (where statistics include Wales) and a 19.1% increase in Sweden.
Tags: Health, women
Posted in Child & Family Debates | 1 Comment »
Canada’s inhumane prison plan
Monday, May 31st, 2010
May 29, 2010
The Roadmap is the self-serving work of reactionary, authoritarian palookas… It is counter-intuitive and contra-historical: The crime rate has been declining for years, and there is no evidence cited to support any of the repression that is requested. It appears to defy a number of Supreme Court decisions, and is an affront, at least to the spirit of the Charter of Rights… The whole concept of prison should be terminated, except for violent criminals and chronic non-violent recidivists.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, featured
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Corporate welfare’s time has passed
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
May 18, 2010
…times have changed and, faced with a choice between cuts to public services or to regional development agencies, most Canadians wouldn’t think twice. Jim Flaherty, the Finance Minister, is looking for savings and corporate welfare represents a relatively easy target. He is known to believe that they hurt Canada’s competitiveness, inhibit free trade and provoke suspicions of pork-barrelling. He should make the case in Cabinet and save the country money that could be used more productively.
Tags: budget, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
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