How to Defeat Poilievre’s Politics of Abandonment
Thursday, September 14th, 2023
For Poilievre freedom itself is conceived in opposition to government… The profit motive is what drives efficiency, no matter what “good” is being considered. Privatization then — whether in health or seniors care, housing, child care or transit — is the solution to the rising costs of living. The individual trumps the collective, competition trumps co-operation, private interests are king. Never mind that unregulated capitalism traps many in lives robbed of freedoms from want and drudgery.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
How a Massive Expansion of Public Housing Can Pay for Itself
Tuesday, May 31st, 2022
… public or non-profit housing could be built and run at break-even rents about a third lower than those of private rental housing… the provincial government could invest in creating new rental homes at a scale that would fundamentally transform our broken housing system. But there’s no reason in principle that this type of self-financed public housing couldn’t be built by any willing level of government. The federal government could certainly do it and so could large municipalities
Tags: budget, economy, housing, ideology, participation, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
We Finally Seem Ready to Take on the One Per Cent
Saturday, November 20th, 2021
Starting in the early 1980s and especially in the mid-1990s, social programs were cut and never restored, and no one suffered more than those at the bottom while those at the very upper end saw their wages (and stock options) begin to soar… But things change, sometimes quickly, and sometimes for the better. A minimum tax on corporate wealth was long seen as a pipe dream. Not now. Some 140 countries have just agreed to a minimum global corporate tax of 15 per cent… The pandemic has been a major accelerant.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Making the Case for Universal Basic Income
Monday, May 10th, 2021
The idea of providing a fixed income for all members of society to meet their basic needs and, in doing so, escape cycles of poverty, instability and ill health, is… a well-studied and financially viable option that would benefit Canada’s economy and social fabric immensely… Basic income programs are not tied to employment, and, unlike welfare and disability assistance, they do not require constant monitoring to determine eligibility and deservedness… basic income is about freedom. Not the freedom of unregulated capitalism… that prioritizes corporations above people — but a more expansive, human one.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »
How a Basic Income Plan Could Save Lives in a Pandemic
Monday, January 11th, 2021
“Basic income doesn’t require empathy so much as recognition that we’re all interdependent.” “It matters what my neighbours are doing and what they can afford to do,” said Forget. “In some ways that’s very obvious when we talk about health. But somehow we don’t think that’s the case when we talk about economics.” … “it’s inevitable that we will end in a basic income in Canada.”
Tags: economy, featured, Health, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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NDP and Greens Push Trudeau to Answer Vancouver’s Call to Decriminalize Drugs
Monday, December 28th, 2020
The MPs want Hajdu to use her authority under Section 56 of the act, which grants the health minister the power to issue an exemption from any part of the legislation “for a medical or scientific purpose or is otherwise in the public interest.” … to take the supply “out of the hands of criminals and remove the stigmatization, and ensure that people get access to safe, regulated, properly packaged products. And we need to substantially beef up our prevention, education and, most importantly, treatment options for substance users.
Tags: crime prevention, disabilities, Health, ideology, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Why Canada’s Climate Advocates Are Excited by Biden’s Housing Plans
Monday, December 7th, 2020
“When you think about the housing crisis in Canada, the homelessness crisis in Canada, the joblessness crisis and the climate crisis, you have a solution which is literally where we live that offers us the opportunity to address all these intersecting crises at once”… The factors are all there for a Green New Deal for housing,
Tags: economy, homelessness, housing, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
The Law According to Beverley McLachlin
Monday, November 23rd, 2020
“Justice shouldn’t be some sort of abstract principle… It shouldn’t be there just for the well-heeled and corporations… It ought to be there for ordinary Canadians.” … The interview also includes conversations about how to think about progress, the role of the judiciary and the legal system in society
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Are Canadians Ready to Ditch GDP as a Key Prosperity Indicator?
Monday, March 16th, 2020
In 1968, the late Robert F. Kennedy… pointed out in a famous speech that gross domestic product “measures everything… except that which makes life worthwhile.” More than 50 years have passed since that speech, and even though several pundits have noted the limitations of GDP as an indicator of human well-being, most countries and politicians are still fixated with GDP growth as a primary indicator of progress. But change seems to be coming.
Tags: economy, globalization, Health, ideology, mental Health, participation, standard of living
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It’s a No-Brainer — Tax the Billionaires!
Monday, October 14th, 2019
TheTyee.ca – Opinion 9 Oct 2019. Michal Rozworski , TheTyee.ca Michal Rozworski is an economist, writer and author (with Leigh Phillips) of The People’s Republic of Walmart. He is a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. A wealth tax wouldn’t just bring in revenue. It would curb the out-of-control political power of the […]
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
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