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99 Percenters are literally sick of being left out
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Oct 05 2011
The social protest launched so recently as Occupy Wall Street that soon evolved into the “We Are the 99 Percent” movement is not a repudiation of capitalism. The aggrieved 99 Percenters, already with chapters in more than 160 countries in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, including Toronto and seven other Canadian cities, simply want the system to work for everyone… we can act on the warning of these progressive demonstrators. Or we can respond with riot police. But a change is gonna come.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living, youth
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Decrying the unfairness
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Oct 04 2011
As activist Jackie Fellner, 32, put it, “it’s about big money dictating which politicians get elected and what programs get funded.” What began as a ragtag, easily-dismissed Facebook- and Twitter-triggered protest is proving to be bigger than a flash mob… Whether it will morph into a progressive riposte to the Tea Party with a coherent agenda of its own is still the big question… it’s a heartening sign that a rising young generation of voters is looking through their laptops, smart phones and tablets to the injustices around them.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Occupy Toronto leaderless, unfocused but hopeful
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Oct 04 2011
This is Occupy Toronto, a movement inspired by Occupy Wall Street, a self-described leaderless resistance movement for people of all gender, race and political persuasion… The theme, if there is one, appears to be corporate greed. As one Occupy Toronto supporter put it in an email, the Canadian government is in debt, bankers have been allowed to run amok, and the average Canadian is paying the price. “We the people are tired of living with no hope…
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Party platforms thin on fighting poverty, says coalition
Saturday, October 1st, 2011
Sep 29 2011
Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives have made no campaign commitments to help vulnerable children and families get ahead, says a coalition of anti-poverty groups that has analyzed the various party platforms for the Oct. 6 election. But the Liberals, NDP and Greens offer only limited solutions to ending child and family poverty, according to the analysis by Ontario Campaign 2000, which has joined with the 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction in calling for more political attention to the issue.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Where have all the PCs gone?
Saturday, October 1st, 2011
Sep 29 2011
Never mind whether they should be called “Red Tories.” They sought power in order to do something, not just punish certain demographics by cutting welfare (Harris), building prisons (Harper) or creating chain gangs (Hudak). They didn’t think government was “the problem” like Ronald Reagan, a hero of their right-wing conservative successors, or that society didn’t exist at all, like another such hero, Margaret Thatcher. Labels and ideology mattered little to them… It involved a sense of the usefulness of government and the importance of some kind of social solidarity, expressed largely through public institutions and programs.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »
Disturbing silence from Hudak on accessibility
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
Sep 28 2011
At risk in this election are our hard-won gains to make Ontario fully accessible to people with disabilities. This affects all voters. Everyone either has a disability or will likely get one later with age…. This shouldn’t be an unfair choice between more income for the poorest people with disabilities versus improving accessibility for all Ontarians with disabilities. Do both! A government can fix social assistance while also moving us forward on the path to accessibility.
Tags: disabilities, participation, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | 1 Comment »
Supreme piece of judicial statecraft
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
Sep 27 2011
Thirty years ago, on Sept. 28, 1981, a Supreme Court opinion set out rules for amending the Constitution. This turned out to be the most politically significant opinion the court has delivered in its existence. It led to the nation’s most defining political developments since Confederation. This opinion established that Canada’s constitutional order contained rules that governed how Canada could make constitutional changes.
Tags: ideology, rights
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »
Preaching austerity at the wrong time
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
Sep 27 2011
They won’t raise taxes on the wealthy. They won’t stop subsidizing the wealthy oil companies. They won’t consider taxes on financial transactions even though a tax of just pennies a trade could reap billions of dollars that could be used to stabilize economies, and they keep lowering business taxes to ridiculously low levels, thus starving their governments of desperately needed revenues. Even the governor of the Bank of Canada has said lowering business taxes has done nothing to create jobs or improve competitiveness.
Tags: corrections, economy, ideology
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Canada urged to spend smarter to cut poverty
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
Sep 28 2011
It would have taken $12.6 billion to give the 3.5 million Canadians living in poverty enough income to live above the poverty line in 2007. And yet Canadians spent at least double that amount treating the consequences of poverty that year, says the National Council of Welfare… Instead of focusing on short-term spending that simply enables people to survive or be a little less disadvantaged, Canada should be investing in longer-term plans to permanently lift people out of poverty and prevent others from falling into its grip, says the report.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
The great northern tax haven
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
Sep 26 2011
For years, Canada followed the U.S. and U.K. almost lockstep in cutting taxes on the rich. Now that those countries are heading in the opposite direction, Canada is suddenly marching to its own drummer… The lack of controversy here is surprising, given that Canada also has deficit problems and, like the U.S., has seen a huge concentration of income at the very top in recent years. Canada’s ultra-rich — those in the top 0.01 per cent — now have a bigger share of national income than at any point in Canadian history…
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
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