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Why Canada needs a new social contract for the digital economy
Thursday, March 5th, 2020
When Canada evolved from an agrarian economy to an industrial one, we developed a new social contract for the times — public education, a social safety net, securities legislation, laws about pollution, crime, traffic, workplace safety and countless non-governmental civil society organizations arose to help solve problems. It is time to update these agreements, create new institutions and renew the expectations and responsibilities that citizens should have about society.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Ford government axes $1M funding boost for rape crisis centres
Wednesday, March 4th, 2020
The province has axed an additional $1 million in funding for the province’s 42 rape crisis centres, which are now warning that supports for survivors will have to be cut while wait lists for services will grow… Centres across the province will now have to let staff go, and end drop-in or after-hour programs for survivors… News of the funding cancellation came hours after the province’s financial watchdog reported that the government had underspent by $2 billion in the first three quarters of this fiscal year.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, mental Health, women
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Ontario revamps mental health services
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020
Ontario’s plan to revamp mental health services with a new agency to focus on cutting long wait times is just talk unless it’s backed up with “substantial and immediate” funding of almost $400 million in Premier Doug Ford’s spring budget, mental health groups warn… Her plan includes a mental health Centre of Excellence, to function like Cancer Care Ontario has done over the years to make the provincial cancer system more responsive, as a “single point of accountability” to improve wait times and boost service levels.
Tags: disabilities, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Secret government reports say public doesn’t like Ford’s education plans
Friday, February 28th, 2020
“Do not increase class sizes” — and forget about e-learning. Those were two main messages for the Ford government from more than 7,000 public submissions during last year’s education consultations, according to the province’s own summaries obtained by the Star. The reports — which the government has refused to release — were entered as evidence at an ongoing Ontario Labour Relations Board hearing into allegations by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association that the province engaged in bad-faith bargaining
Tags: budget, ideology, participation
Posted in Education Delivery System | 1 Comment »
‘They have failed us.’ Parents of kids with rare diseases feel let down by Ford government
Thursday, February 27th, 2020
Families needing revolutionary and expensive drugs to beat the symptoms of rare diseases like cystic fibrosis say Health Minister Christine Elliott has let them down after championing improved access to medications when the PCs were in opposition just a few years ago… Elliott said she has been trying to speed the federal and provincial approval processes for the drugs and to get them covered in Ontario… In 2014, Elliott said “we have to be able to find the money” to pay for such drugs by restructuring the health-care system.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, pharmaceutical, youth
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Adopting a U.S. plan for easing hallway medicine
Wednesday, February 26th, 2020
There is no hallway medicine in America in part because of skilled nursing facilities (SNF’s), which are designed to rehabilitate frail seniors after an acute hospital stay and reduce the need for ALC designation. SNF’s employ nurses, support workers, physios and physio assistants to provide care that emphasizes reconditioning weakened seniors after their acute hospital stays… This solution would be more cost effective than maintaining deconditioned patients in acute hospitals or waiting to build long-term care beds.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, housing
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Employers complain about a ‘skills gap’ in Canada. But employers are part of the problem
Thursday, February 20th, 2020
… It’s time for employers to rediscover the value of investing in their own training programs. Government must play a role, of course, but by prodding employers to do a better job, rather than letting them off the hook entirely… And aggressive training plans should be a core feature of any government-supported industrial programs, technology grants or infrastructure projects.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Ontarians need a bolder new approach to home care
Wednesday, February 19th, 2020
… here are four simple yet transformative ways to make it work better for patients, families, and those providing care: Return nurses to home care… Allow direct referrals… Focus on patient needs, not patient time… Create a “long-term care at home” option… It means changing the way our organizations are paid… and holding providers accountable for costs as well as results for those receiving care.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, housing, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Governments have been under investing in youth for decades
Wednesday, February 19th, 2020
Since 1976… Had public investments in younger Canadians kept pace with investments in retirees, governments would invest over $19 billion more per year on younger residents. That’s enough to pay for a national child-care program twice; or increase post-secondary spending by 50 per cent; or rapidly accelerate the national housing strategy in response to the growing gap between rents, home prices and young people’s earnings.
Tags: budget, child care, featured, Health, ideology, standard of living, youth
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 1 Comment »
The federal government needs to tax our inheritances
Wednesday, February 19th, 2020
We are demanding the federal government establish a progressive inheritance tax that hits the top 10 per cent of estates, increasing to a marginal rate of 55 per cent on estates over $7.5 million… We’re also calling for a wealth tax that hits the top 10 per cent of Canadians, increasing to a marginal rate of 10 per cent on each dollar of wealth over $20 million, exempting principal residences… These two policies affect only individuals in the top 10 per cent
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
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