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Tax food, Toronto economist advocates
Friday, March 23rd, 2012
Mar 01 2012
Ottawa could use the $39 billion gained by implementing a pure value-added tax to improve the poor. But would Harper use the windfall that way? Bolstering social programs would be antithetical to everything he has said and done since taking office. Reducing income taxes might tempt him, but it wouldn’t do the poor much good — most don’t pay income taxes… As an economic theory, Smart’s scheme may be defensible. But outside the safety of academe, it is a prescription for more hardship and more hunger.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Native education must be funded equally with public schools
Friday, March 23rd, 2012
Mar 01 2012
… to actually improve the situation the upcoming federal budget needs to include new, dedicated funding. Right now, Ottawa provides thousands of dollars less per student than provinces spend to educate non-native kids. Fewer than 40 per cent of native students – half the rate for non-natives – graduate from high school. It’s a tragedy for them and a terrible waste of potential for the country.
Tags: budget, Indigenous, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Is the Conservative government muzzling federal scientists?
Monday, February 27th, 2012
Feb 26 2012
… the Conservative government issued a media protocol that has served to suppress scientific input on issues of public interest. The protocol states: “Just as we have one department, we should have one voice. Interviews sometimes present surprises to ministers and senior management. Media relations will work with staff on how best to deal with the call (an interview request from a journalist). This should include asking the program expert to respond with approved lines.”
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Conservatives set to back motion to end aboriginal education funding gap, fulfilling Shannen’s Dream
Monday, February 27th, 2012
Feb. 27, 2012
Charlie Angus, the New Democrat whose motion goes to a vote Monday, says the government is “running out of road” on the question of aboriginal education. The Timmins-James Bay MP worked with a young girl from Attawapiskat, Shannen Koostachin, whose fight for proper schools in her community became one of the largest youth-driven civil rights campaign the country had ever seen.
Tags: budget, Indigenous, participation, rights, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Pensions: Harper gov’t pits generations against each other
Monday, February 27th, 2012
Feb 26 2012
It knew Canada’s dependency ratio (the number of retirees relative to the number of workers) would soon start rising. Number-crunchers had been urging governments to wake up for years. Instead of doing that, the Conservatives increased federal spending, wiping out the $13 billion surplus they inherited from the previous Liberal government. Now they’re warning Canadians the country’s 60-year-old pension program is unsustainable.
Tags: budget, economy, pensions, standard of living, youth
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Food tax: Adding GST to food will benefit the poor, economists say
Sunday, February 26th, 2012
Feb 24 2012
Smart and Mintz estimate the federal government could raise $39 billion annually if it eliminated the exemptions that now exist on politically touchy items such as medicine, tuition, financial services and especially food. Those new revenues can be used to cut income taxes, fund social services or both, or even to reduce almost in half the 12- to 15-per cent harmonized taxes consumers pay.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
High levels of inequality jeopardize Canada’s ability to succeed
Saturday, February 25th, 2012
Feb 24 2012
There is substantial evidence that “human capital” — the knowledge and skills that make people innovative — is socially determined… A person’s health is also an important factor, both in terms of educational outcomes and productivity. Thus inequality and poverty, which are both associated with poor health outcomes, are worrying from an innovation standpoint as well… Canada ranks 15th out of 20, and drops to 16th spot in terms of child poverty… Instead of investing people, Canadian governments have given huge tax breaks to businesses in the hopes of spurring innovation.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Drummond promises less money, reduced flexibility for cash-strapped Ontario universities
Friday, February 24th, 2012
Feb 23 2012
Even with tuition increasing at around 5 per cent a year, universities are faced each year with a 2-3 per cent gap between expenditures and revenues. Most universities have attempted to close this gap by cutting budgets and taking in more students, resulting in larger class sizes and increasing reliance on part-time faculty… The danger is that the government will see the report as justifying a simple cost-cutting exercise, which will only exacerbate the universities’ unsustainable fiscal position without giving them the tools they need to attempt to deal with the challenges they face.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Don’t adopt U.S.-style drug laws, groups warn Conservative government
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
Feb 22 2012
As the Conservatives’ massive crime bill nears its final stages of parliamentary approval, a Canadian group of judges, lawyers, and policy advisers has emerged to urge a “smarter” approach to tackling crime. Calling itself the “Smarter Justice Network,” the group publicly stepped forward on a day that a similar but unrelated American group released an open letter urging the Canadian government to avoid mandatory jail terms for drug crimes that have been a “costly failure” in the United States.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, featured, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Ontario universities should offer three-year degrees, classes year-round and more online learning, says provincial report
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
Feb 22 2012
The report — tentatively entitled 3 Cubed: PSE institutions as centres of creativity, competency and citizenship equipped for the 21st century — says post-secondary education needs to be relevant and flexible given the increased demand for college and university. The proposals would get students through university or college cheaper and faster — the report says college diplomas should be two years at most — while still offering a quality post-secondary education… The report says pilot programs for the new three-year degrees should begin in September 2013, with rollout by 2015.
Tags: budget, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | 1 Comment »
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