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Defined benefits ‘can still work’ [pensions]
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
Dec. 15, 2011
In Australia, a nationwide switch away from defined benefit plans has led to widespread senior poverty. Half of Australian seniors live below the poverty line, and two thirds run out of pension income by age 75. Is that what we want here?” The beauty of DB plans is you know in advance what you’ll get out of them… you need to save $500,000 to provide yourself with an annual pension of $25,000, but that’s the reality. We owe it to people to help them get there – we need to make workplace pensions better, not worse.”
Tags: economy, ideology, pensions, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
When it comes to charity, Quebec still can’t find its wallet
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
Dec 15, 2011
Quebec is the least religious of the provinces (and in fact the most militantly anti-religious). Quebec is also the most statist (and highly taxed) of the provinces. Quebecers figure their taxes are taking care of all the social problems, or should be taking care of them, and it is therefore no surprise that they are the least likely to take responsibility for the afflictions of others. Which is a great argument against statism… Statism tends to suffocate the blessing of empathy. Statism promotes civic immaturity. One more in a long litany of reasons for working to bring down the size of government.
Tags: ideology, philanthropy, standard of living, tax
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
Compared to Canada, Europe has it easy
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Dec 14, 2011
As a consequence to its earlier sacrifices, Canada is today part of a dying breed of AAA rated markets… Against the myth that this was easier for Canada to achieve during different times, what’s amazing about the Canadian experience is that it was achieved during at least as trying if not more troublesome times after taking account of the full global and domestic picture at the time. The country therefore offers an important lesson to nations like the United States and large parts of Europe that are delaying fiscal repair, and punting the problem down the road toward a more ruinous crisis later.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »
Ontario’s publicly funded intolerance
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Dec 14, 2011
The various groups that have come out against Ontario’s proposed anti-bullying law are doing a fine job of proving the argument that the province has no business funding a separate Catholic school system… a group called Ontario Catholic Parent Advocates, is saying quite plainly that Bill 13 would require Catholic schools to accept homosexuality. And that they shouldn’t have to… The Catholic Church has a right to its beliefs. But the fact that taxpayers continue to fund schools that want to teach those beliefs looks ever more ridiculous as stories like this play out.
Tags: ideology, rights, tax, youth
Posted in Education Policy Context | No Comments »
Corporate ‘welfare’ costs Ontario $3-billion a year: report
Friday, December 9th, 2011
Dec 8, 2011
Ontario’s massive “corporate welfare” spending is unfair, inefficient and costs more than $3-billion per year, according to a new report by the Fraser Institute… By getting corporate welfare off the books, Ontario could have an extra $3.1-billion per year to virtually eliminate the province’s health premium, bring down the deficit or… reduce the corporate tax rate to 8%.Mr. Milke’s report places blame for corporate welfare equally on Ontario’s Liberal, NDP and Progressive Conservative governments. “All parties are guilty of this right across the country”…
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada’s prisons becoming warehouses for the mentally ill
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Dec. 07, 2011
More than one in 10 men and nearly one in three women held in federal prisons have mental-health problems, according to 2009 figures from the Correctional Service of Canada. Those numbers represent a near-doubling in the total proportion of inmates with mental illnesses between 1997 and 2009… “Psychiatric institutions have been closing over the years, and the mentally ill … have now found that the correctional system has become the institution of last resort”… The problem could intensify once the omnibus crime bill becomes law…
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, mental Health, rights
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
The welfare state’s cradle-to-grave dissatisfaction
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Dec 7, 2011
… aboriginals, women, youth, low income Canadians – are the most heavily targeted by state assistance programs. Yet the more that is done, the greater the demand, and the higher the level of dissatisfaction when results do not meet expectations. Getting people to participate more in the political process is not about increasing customer satisfaction. It is about scaling back what’s on offer and focusing on protecting, instead of perverting, those cherished democratic ideals. Safeguarding freedoms doesn’t demand a massive bureaucracy; personal responsibility is not reinforced by ever-expanding redistribution.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Help the First Nations move forward – with respect
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Dec. 5, 2011
No longer can First Nation poverty in a First World country be used as political football, further driving wedges within our communities and between First Nations and other Canadians. Achieving this kind of real change and “smashing the status quo” is exactly the purpose of the Crown-First Nations Gathering. I encourage all Canadians to not judge us but join us with respect – help us move forward in dignity, recognizing our rights and responsibilities.
Tags: Indigenous, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »
Women still owed wage parity
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Dec. 5, 2011
Sure, women have seen advances… Statistics Canada reported last year that between 1997 and 2007, the proportion of women matching or exceeding their husbands’ earnings climbed to 42% from 37%. But crunch the numbers differently, and the figures tell a much different story. In 2007, Canadian women brought home an average of $43,000; men earned $60,300. Put another way: women earned an average of 71.4% of men.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Equality Debates | 2 Comments »
Canada’s First Nation policies cause friction: U.S. diplomatic cable
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Dec. 4, 2011
“Lack of a standard model for resolving comprehensive land claims, self-government agreements, and the absence of a clear legal definition of what constitutes an ‘aboriginal right’ have resulted in complex multi-year negotiations, a significant claims backlog, and friction between aboriginal communities and the federal and provincial governments,” the cable says… dated Aug. 21, 2009.
Tags: Health, Indigenous, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
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