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Canada-China investment deal allows for confidential lawsuits against Canada
Sunday, September 30th, 2012
September 29, 2012
… any decision by any state entity in Canada… can be challenged by a Chinese investor. The arbitrators, if they conclude that the decision violates flexible standards of investor protection, can issue orders and award damages against a country. On the other hand, no one in Canada including the government will be able, under the deal, to sue a Chinese investor for breaking any laws. The claims are one-way.
Tags: economy, globalization, privatization, rights, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Don’t fear the education revolution
Saturday, September 29th, 2012
September 21, 2012
A return to three-year undergrads would move students more quickly to two-year masters and three-year PhD programs, or the workforce. It would free up teachers and class and lab space. It would reduce students’ tuition expenses… Online study doesn’t have to mean home study… The latter would be more enriched than before, since the fundamentals would have been imparted online.
Tags: budget, tax, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Re: Don’t fear the education revolution, Sept. 23
Saturday, September 29th, 2012
September 29, 2012
… it was disappointing to see David Olive using the language of the Harris government by calling faculty and administrators self-interested. Are educators more self-interested than bankers, investors, and business owners who neither wish to support publicly funded education nor pay for training themselves?… David Olive’s column is riddled with questionable assumptions, misleading facts and logical mistakes.
Tags: budget, ideology, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Will Ontario get it right in northern Ring of Fire?
Friday, September 28th, 2012
September 27, 2012
Local First Nations near the Ring of Fire are rightly worried… Ontario can either continue to let individual companies launch projects that will shape the future of the region — with the help of our tax dollars — or it can bring all interested parties together to build a long term plan that takes everyone’s needs and concerns into account, based on the best available science.
Tags: economy, Indigenous, participation, rights, standard of living, tax
Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »
Canadians pay too much for generic drugs
Friday, September 28th, 2012
Sept. 27, 2012
… there are more than 30 generic drugs where the total savings per drug under universal coverage would be more than $1 million in Ontario alone. Universal public coverage of every one of the top 100 generics would still save $87 million in public funds if we got the best international prices. It would also benefit everyone by saving employers and individuals $158 million off their prescription drug bill.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, mental Health, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario restraint bill much more than two-year wage freeze
Friday, September 28th, 2012
September 28, 2012
The Ontario government is selling its new public restraint bill as a simple, two-year wage freeze. A close reading shows the proposed law is much, much broader… it would give the provincial cabinet wartime-style powers over public sector compensation for at least six years… And the bill would bar unions from either striking or appealing such decisions to the courts.
Tags: budget, economy, rights, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
ADHD drugs suspected of hurting Canadian kids
Friday, September 28th, 2012
September 26, 2012
… doctors, nurses, pharmacists and parents are reporting that they believe attention deficit drugs are causing major health problems in patients, many as young as 6 and 7 years old… Health Canada, which collects these adverse reaction reports, does not alert the public to the magnitude of these side effects… It has allowed the industry to largely police itself.
Tags: Health, mental Health, pharmaceutical, rights, youth
Posted in Health Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Autistic teen Miles Kirsh: Province steps in to provide housing
Friday, September 28th, 2012
September 24, 2012
The provincial ombudsman’s office has assured Donna Kirsh that Ontario’s social services ministry is working to find a way to keep her 19-year-old autistic son in respite care until funding for permanent group home care is available… In the meantime, the Barrie-area respite home where Miles has been staying since Sept. 5 has reduced its $400-a-day cost by $80.
Tags: disabilities, Health, homelessness, housing, mental Health
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | 1 Comment »
Mitt Romney blurts out the truth about neo-conservatism
Thursday, September 27th, 2012
Sept. 24, 2012
… about 30 years ago, a new breed of “conservative” slithered onto the political scene. Stealing the moniker of conservatism, this new breed embraced the inequality of traditional conservatism (driving it skyward) while unburdening itself of the responsibility for others and the public good… Modern conservatism — or neo-conservatism — has infected Canada too, coming to fruition under the Harper majority government
Tags: budget, ideology, privatization
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
Harper rewrites the rules of democracy
Thursday, September 27th, 2012
Sept. 25, 2012
Harper’s implicit message: I have a parliamentary majority. I’m setting the rules now. His rules strike at the heart of responsible government. He has decided to tax Canadians without allowing their elected representatives a chance to speak for them… They violate a fundamental tenet of democracy: the government acts with the consent of the people… They contravene his own pledge of “open government.”
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
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