« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
PM’s priorities out of touch
Saturday, January 21st, 2012
Jan 19 2012
It’s time to take a scalpel to all those useless programs involving education, health care, government services, social programs and the environment. And while we’re at it, let’s get rid of that useless freedom of information nonsense. I sure by now we all know we can trust our government to put our taxes into the things that matter and serve those who matter. / Canadians named health care as their number one federal election issue, yet, the Conservatives have chosen to cut Health Care Transfers and abandon their health care responsibilities.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Ottawa favours foreign businesses over Canadian employees
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
Jan 16 2012
Ironically, the Harper government has complained forcefully about “foreign” interference from outside environmentalists protesting a proposed pipeline across the Rockies. But when it comes to foreign companies stripping Canadian workers of half their wages and then moving operations out of the country, the government hasn’t a negative word to say. Harper is of course staunchly pro-capitalist, and has aggressively lowered corporate tax rates, while refusing to link lower taxes to investment or job creation.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Older students not eligible for Ontario tuition rebate
Sunday, January 15th, 2012
Jan 15 2012
That’s the fine print many failed to notice about Queen’s Park’s $430 million rebate plan that gives $1,600 back to university students and $730 back to community college students whose annual family income is below $160,000: it does not apply to students who have been out of high school for more than four years… mature students are excluded, as are part-time students, graduate students and Ontario students enrolled outside the province… Because people with children and aboriginals both tend to be older when they enter post-secondary education, both groups appear worse off under the rebate plan.
Tags: budget, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Education Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Dalton McGuinty can’t play Captain Canada to rescue medicare
Sunday, January 15th, 2012
Jan 14 2012
Flaherty’s diktat has sucked the air out of the premiers’ conferences because there is little left to fight about — except amongst themselves. A split has emerged between western premiers who deemed Ottawa’s offer reasonable and those who denounced it as wretched… Victoria can serve as a clearing house for “best practices” and interprovincial brainwaves on innovation, but it won’t provide any panaceas… McGuinty needs to get out in front of the funding challenges in his own backyard: highly paid doctors, a poorly integrated health care system, modest community care and meagre home-care programs.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Does Ontario really need three new universities?
Sunday, January 15th, 2012
Jan 14 2012
Even if the new universities or campuses are launched as teaching-oriented universities — which are less expensive — it’s doubtful the academic community will allow that model to continue over the long term. Eventually, the institutions will become “real” universities, with all the associated research and administrative costs. And the added expense for new university spaces is unlikely to significantly change the number of people who are properly trained for the workforce… We should probably be looking at a different or expanded role for colleges…
Tags: economy, ideology, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Mike Del Grande’s candid chat about social programs
Friday, January 13th, 2012
Jan 12 2012
Councillor Mike Del Grande, Mayor Rob Ford’s budget chief… described in blunt terms his “tough love” opposition to some city-funded social programs, including school meals for low-income kids… if you have children you’re responsible for children”… “why is it the state’s responsibility to look after your children?” … “I want to be responsible, I want to be fair, I want to be civic-minded. Yes, there are poor people in the world, okay, but poor people will be with us forever, like it’s been from the moment of time.”
Tags: budget, homelessness, housing, ideology, poverty, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
Tax breaks leave gaping hole in federal budget
Friday, January 13th, 2012
Jan 12 2012
Every year Ottawa gives up billions of taxes in deductions, exemptions, deferrals, credits, rebates and concessions. Because no money actually goes out the door, these tax breaks don’t count as spending. But they cost the federal treasury billions… here is the value of all the tax expenditures in the 2011 report, released this week: $152 billion. To put that in perspective, the government’s total program spending in 2011 amounted to $248 billion.
Tags: budget, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Education Delivery System, Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Same-sex marriages of non-resident couples not legal: federal justice department
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
Jan 12 2012
Thousands of same-sex marriages since 2004 involving couples from outside Canada are in limbo as result of a new position taken by the Conservative government. In a nutshell, government lawyers are arguing in court that if same-sex couples could not be legally married in their home country, then their Canadian wedding is not valid… the shift in federal policy is one of several recent changes “that highlight the Harper government’s paradoxical stance on gay rights in Canada.”
Tags: ideology, rights
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
ORNGE air ambulance service now run by Ontario deputy minister
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
Jan 11 2012
… top executives at ORNGE, which gets $150 million in taxpayers money a year, had set up a warren of for-profit companies in what they described as an attempt to “leverage” the public assets of a service that was created to fly sick and injured Ontario residents to hospital. Meanwhile… ORNGE was late to some emergency calls and failed to provide proper coverage in certain parts of the province… executives of the for-profit companies were called into boardrooms and told their services would no longer be needed.
Tags: budget, Health, privatization
Posted in Health Delivery System | 2 Comments »
Stephen Harper apes Republican nuttiness
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
Jan 11 2012
… policies that have been drawn from extremist Republican theology… • Opposing gun controls… • Cutting taxes for corporations and the rich on the discredited theory that they would create jobs. • Decrying big government while merrily milking it for pork barrelling… and splurging on big-ticket military procurement — thereby racking up deficits. • Spending billions on jails when crime rates are at a 25-year low. • Ignoring expert opinion, be it on climate change, taxation, incarceration or a scientific national census…
Tags: economy, ideology, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Recent Comments