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How to save medicare while saving money
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
Dec 21 2011
After working on two recent studies of health-care inefficiencies, Drummond’s reform agenda is no secret: reintegrating the system; and reallocating more money to health promotion, community care, home care and long-term care… Drummond has looked closely at the Saskatchewan experiment because it comes closest to a sustained transformation of government finances. It’s a lesson Duncan has also heeded. The treasurer has taken to telling his fellow Liberals in caucus and cabinet that the prairie New Democrats pioneered an ambitious reform model…
Tags: budget, Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Women see the other side
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
Dec 27 2011
The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program allows those in prison who never dreamed of going beyond high school to achieve that seeming impossibility. It is rehabilitative, character-changing and confidence-building. It has been shown to reduce crime and violence. It also engages regular college students in a world they may only have encountered through TV or film and deepens their understanding of social problems. It pushes them to work for changes in their communities to reduce crime and recidivism. Inside-Out is a program that should be emulated in prisons across the country.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, poverty, women
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Diagnosing changes to health-care funding
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
Dec 20 2011
The health transfer currently represents about 10 per cent of all federal spending. For the sake of comparison, health-care costs make up 42 per cent of the Ontario government’s total program spending… “About 80 per cent of what Ontario spends on health care comes from provincial taxes. So if the economy slows down and revenues decrease, that will be a much bigger deal than the size of the federal transfer”… On the other hand… with restricted funding, those who could get those benefits will be those who can pay out of pocket. The result will be two-tiered health care.
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Unsung heroes of the Third City
Saturday, December 24th, 2011
Dec 22 2011
The Third City – is made up of Toronto’s low-income neighbourhoods, with their high concentrations of racialized poverty… [where] incomes… have declined 20 per cent or more since 1970… the Third City can also be understood as an urban condition: a set of experiences that together amount to exclusion from the full political, economic and cultural life of our city… But behind the negative media headlines and dire poverty statistics, there are people working hard to stitch together a social fabric torn by decades of rising poverty and inequality.
Tags: multiculturalism, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion History | No Comments »
The Bible and ethical economics
Saturday, December 24th, 2011
Dec 22 2011
In his book, Economics of Good and Evil… Sedlacek says, a moral thread runs through economics until the modern era, based on a sense of mutual human responsibility. With that moral element now eliminated, you wind up bailing out (“forgiving”) the biggest, most powerful debtor/sinners, i.e. the banks, but doing nothing for the poor and destitute, who were supposed to inherit the Earth… Nobody uses econometrics to calculate gifts they give or gratitude they feel. The whole process is uneconomic — but only in the withered, current sense.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
6 per cent solution for better health care
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
Dec 21 2011
Here are three ways to spend that $1.6 billion next year that could lever increased efficiency and equity. • Lower costs through economies of scale… (on) pharmaceuticals… bulk buying, and collectively save ourselves billions. • Bend the cost curve by improving health… Take oral health (where) evidence is showing the linkages between poor oral health and higher incidence of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, pneumonia and Alzheimer’s… • Allocate resources strategically. The biggest challenge to our system is the rise of chronic diseases. We really haven’t tackled the integration of care between our hospitals and our communities.
Tags: budget, Health, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Hate and the law: how to deal with bigots
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
Dec 19 2011
Eradicating racial hatred is a noble goal but it cannot be legislated out of existence. The Canadian Human Rights Act prohibits communication “likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt.” This is impossibly vague and subjective… The legislation does not permit a defence of truth and ignores progress made by feminists, gays and civil rights activists, many of whom were contemptuous of, and hateful toward, their oppressors… Bigots are best defeated through open debate, rather than judicial or legislative fiat, precisely so their ideas can be exposed to both hatred and contempt.
Tags: multiculturalism, rights
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Social safety net needs repair
Monday, December 19th, 2011
Dec 18 2011
The cuts to the social safety net in Ontario (now being replicated across the country) greatly magnified the effects of systemic racism, which had already resulted in a disproportionate number of visible minority poor. If you are a hungry child struggling in school due to your hunger and poverty, of course you will be tempted to find some way to feed yourself, even if it means getting involved in drug-selling or other crimes. Why is anyone surprised? No clearer evidence is needed to show why we need to strengthen our social safety net
Tags: Indigenous, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Three women who fought back against the Conservatives
Monday, December 19th, 2011
Dec 18 2011
Franke James… is third person to pass through this column in recent months who feels she has been spied on, smacked down or targeted by a mean-spirited, micromanaging government or Conservative party always on the lookout for enemies of the state. One is an artist, one an aboriginal advocate and one a widow. All three have fought back. And all three are women… There really is no evidence the Conservatives actually target women or that women have proved more adept at getting up off the canvas and fighting back. But there are enough signs out there to raise the question.
Tags: participation, rights, standard of living, women
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Cure for Ontario’s credit woes worse than disease
Sunday, December 18th, 2011
Dec 16 2011
… the more governments reduce spending by, for instance, slashing public service jobs, the lower their tax revenues. And the lower the tax revenues, the harder it is to meet fiscal targets – which spooks the financial markets even more. It is a pernicious circle. What should Ontario’s government do? First, it should avoid panic… Second, it shouldn’t scapegoat public sector employees… Debt and deficit – while costly – are sometimes better than the alternative. Bond rating agencies notwithstanding, this is one of those times.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
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