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First Nations education is a national crisis
Monday, April 18th, 2011
Apr 18 2011
…the country’s “perfect demographic storm.” First Nations are the fastest-growing segment of our society, and over 50 per cent of that population is under the age of 23… If First Nations caught up with provincial education standards, they would inject an estimated $179 billion into Canada’s GDP by 2026, both in labour support and by reducing strains on social services… It’s not always the case that moral imperatives and fiscal responsibilities match up so readily— but we’d say supporting First Nations education is an obvious solution.
Tags: economy, Indigenous, poverty, rights, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Tax is not a dirty word
Saturday, April 16th, 2011
Apr 15 2011
Thanks to the current demonizing of taxes, three levels of Canadian government — municipal, provincial and federal — fight not to be openly saddled with levying the things… Do we realize what a great deal we’re losing as we parrot the American Tea Party and demand lower taxes and the same level of services? Peace, order and good government doesn’t come cheap… The hard-right would have us believe you can just stop paying taxes, just as you can quit drinking coffee and have better sleeps and a more restful life… Taxes pay for good things that we don’t think about until they vanish.
Tags: featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Business tax cuts don’t spur more capital spending, study shows
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
Apr 13 2011
Historical economic data from Statistics Canada reveals business fixed capital spending has dropped slightly as a percentage of GDP and as a share of corporate cash flow for almost three decades, according to the study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, an Ottawa-based non-partisan, non-profit research agency. The decline came despite continuing business tax cuts that have slashed the combined corporate federal-provincial corporate rate from 50 per cent in the 1980s to 29.5 per cent in 2010
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
A door opens for the mentally ill
Monday, April 11th, 2011
Apr 11 2011
For the first time, an individual living openly with mental illness was appointed to the Consent and Capacity Board, the powerful tribunal that determines whether Ontarians receiving psychiatric treatment are capable of living outside an institution without endangering themselves or others… The board has 131 members: 45 lawyers, 44 psychiatrists and 42 members of the public… What it didn’t have until last week was anyone who had been institutionalized for mental illness, labelled, stereotyped and limited by the opinions of doctors and the fears of society.
Tags: mental Health, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
Why do freedom fighters yearn for locks and keys?
Monday, April 11th, 2011
Apr 11 2011
…isn’t [it] a bit simplistic to divide society into “good folk” and “bad folk” and then try to consign the baddies to perdition for ever more?… the chance to get out on parole is essential… First, prisoners who can’t earn their way out early have nothing to gain by showing respect for the prison system, and lack of respect puts guards’ safety in jeopardy. Second, prisoners who serve full sentences don’t report to parole officers. I have watched parole officers in action. They are often able to keep ex-cons on the straight and narrow out there in the real world, and that is what we want, isn’t it?
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology, rights
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
After-school programs should be non-profit, critics say
Monday, April 11th, 2011
April 8, 2011
“Our government remains committed to ensuring parents have access to affordable, high-quality and on-site before- and after-school care for their children”… Queen’s Park had originally mandated school boards to provide the service by 2012 in schools where at least 15 families request it. But the government backed down last December after a massive lobbying effort from daycares, which feared losing business, and from school boards, which didn’t want the complications of implementing and operating the programs.
Tags: child care, ideology, participation, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Labour needs a new image
Sunday, April 10th, 2011
Apr 10 2011
… we have to do more than talk to ourselves and attribute our problems to others – right-wing politicians, the corporate media, globalization… We are at our most creative when we’re searching for others to blame… Business and government adapted far sooner to the new media… But the problem is even more profound than that. We do not have a narrative relevant to the 21st century… We should tell employers – and our members – that the union label indicates dependable, hard-working employees committed to the success of the enterprise.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada’s corporate tax policy sustains child poverty
Sunday, April 10th, 2011
Apr 10 2011
Canada already has one of the lower corporate tax rates in the western world. Now the Conservatives want to lower it even further. Canada also has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the western world. Why can’t we be one of the lowest? It’s a question of priorities — fiscal priorities. Surely that is the nub of the question… The most recent reduction in Canadian corporate taxes will by itself deplete the federal treasury by $6 billion annually and that figure will increase significantly as the economy grows over time… Canadians are going to have do without… what economists call social goods.
Tags: budget, featured, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Harper’s big election bets are budget and crime
Sunday, April 10th, 2011
Apr 10 2011
Give the Conservatives credit for clarifying the election debate… frustrated by pesky opposition questions about the cost and purpose of its crime bills, the government would bundle all the measures into one comprehensive bill and make it law in the first 100 days of the new Parliament… Then there’s the cost. The government has used every excuse imaginable to avoid detailing the price tag of putting many more people behind bars… We wish the Conservatives could work up as much moral and financial enthusiasm for an education agenda or an innovation agenda.
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
The ultimate public school advantage: Democracy
Saturday, April 9th, 2011
Apr 08 2011
Is there anything public schools do that no other form of education can? Only this: Simply by being what they are, they can teach kids about the society they live in. That’s because public schools must let everyone in. What’s unique about public education isn’t the education part, it’s the “public.” Other schools can tell kids about their society but they don’t contain it and show it… public health care… [is] an achievement to take pride in… it’s about survival on a physical level and it’s similar for people everywhere. Education is more specific and social. It’s how we define the way we are, not simply that we are.
Tags: ideology, multiculturalism, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
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