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Old age benefits now slated for cost-cutting by Stephen Harper.
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
Jan 31 2012
Harper had never mentioned changing the terms of old age security (OAS) in Parliament or any of his public speeches… The Prime Minister may have thought debt-enfeebled Europe, with its cradle-to-grave social programs, would be the perfect backdrop to signal a shift in policy. He might have assumed the economic logic of his stance would be self-evident to Canadians. What he apparently forgot was that he sought a mandate to govern for the next four years last May without telling voters that re-electing him meant their pensions were vulnerable.
Tags: budget, ideology, pensions, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Stephen Harper’s ‘tough-on-crime’ laws are more misguided than ever
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Jan 29 2012
As more Canadians awake to declining crime rates, they will become less tolerant of senseless, ideologically driven justice policy and of bids to garner votes by fear-mongering. Provincial deficits and the prospects of cuts to health and education will reinforce that trend. Canadians might still rank crime as a big concern but it doesn’t top health care. Few will thank any government that closes a hospital to pay for a new prison.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 2 Comments »
Long-promised Ontario Online Institute still far from launch
Monday, January 30th, 2012
Jan 29 2012
The Ontario Online Institute was announced by the McGuinty government in the 2010 Speech from the Throne and cited again in a speech by MPP John Milloy last May… MPP Glen Murray, the new minister of training, colleges and universities, has mused publicly that one of the government’s promised three new Ontario campuses might be “online.”
Tags: budget, disabilities, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Canada chops employment insurance staff, leaving jobless in the lurch
Monday, January 30th, 2012
Jan 29 2012
An applicant who provides all the information required by Service Canada is supposed to get his or her first benefit payment within 28 days. But thousands of laid-off workers say they’ve been waiting months. It’s impossible to get though to Service Canada; the phone lines are jammed. It takes hours to get an appointment with a claims officer when they go to the office in person. And when their turn finally comes, they’re often told their claim is “spooling” or “churning” in the computer and won’t be retrievable for three weeks… Why is the federal agency failing to keep its part of the bargain?
Tags: economy, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Learning to live with ‘boy energy’
Monday, January 30th, 2012
Jan 29 2012
Noting that “boy energy” is often perceived as something “innately disruptive,” Reist has observed that boys, in particular, are seen as threats to the “institutional decorum” of schools, expressed in three terse rules: “sit still, be quiet, and do what you’re told.” Building on recent research in psychology and cognitive studies, he points out that many boys learn kinetically, and that their tendencies to fidget, tap and move while in the classroom is not only normal, but also often advantageous for their learning processes.
Tags: youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Harper’s very political religion
Sunday, January 29th, 2012
Jan 28 2012
… freedom of and from religion is a secular principle. A prime minister who promotes it should be commended, not criticized. It is also unfair to accuse Harper of advancing an evangelical Christian agenda — championing only the cause of Christian minorities abroad. His game is more nuanced… Domestic partisan Conservative considerations are being turned into Canadian foreign policy.. In the religious freedom campaign, the Tories have exploited “old country” fault lines among immigrants. Instead of minimizing such divisions here, as has been our tradition, they have fanned them.
Tags: ideology, multiculturalism, participation, rights
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Property rights could unlock native reform
Sunday, January 29th, 2012
Jan 28 2012
… underlying title allows First Nation communities to subdivide a portion of their reserve land into fee simple lands for individual members to use. Band members could then use these fee simple lands to generate wealth through mortgages, loans, and buy/sell transactions, much like Canadians do off-reserve, but without any of the hassle of dealing with significant bureaucratic red tape that most members have to endure under the Indian Act.
Tags: Indigenous, participation, privatization, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Dwight Duncan demands Ottawa release censored report showing Ontario is shortchanged by equalization
Saturday, January 28th, 2012
Jan 26 2012
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan is demanding Ottawa release a classified federal report that reveals Ontario gets shortchanged by the national equalization wealth-sharing scheme… “The report makes it increasingly clear that because of the policies of the government of Canada, Ontario families are subsidizing programs and services in other parts of Canada that Ontarians themselves do not enjoy”… “It’s time that the biases against Ontario be removed and that we begin to look at this thing realistically.”
Tags: budget, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Stephen Harper’s old-age pension cuts unnecessary
Saturday, January 28th, 2012
Jan 27 2012
There is no fiscal crisis in this country. True, the government predicts that the cost of pensions for the elderly, now about $35.6 billion, will triple by 2030… And when baby boomers start to die off, as they will from about 2020, spending on the elderly will start to decelerate on its own… the myth of pensioner excess provides an easy talking point for those anxious to cut social spending in Canada. The euro may be the true villain of the piece. But the story of the slothful Greek hairdresser is easier to understand.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 5 Comments »
Disabled children get left out
Thursday, January 26th, 2012
Jan 24 2012
… preschool children are generally well-served by community agencies and elementary schools do their best to include children with disabilities in classroom activities. But around Grade 5 or 6, these kids fall by wayside… Those who manage to finish high school have enormous difficulty getting the training they need to qualify for a job… smaller communities don’t have resources for these children with disabilities. But even in major cities parents don’t know what services exist… There are solutions to these problems, but they require money and leadership.
Tags: disabilities
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | 1 Comment »
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