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CPP a better bet than private plans
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
Feb 28 2011
If we fail to act, inadequate pensions will cost governments (us as taxpayers) a lot more down the road for income-tested support vehicles like the old age security program’s guaranteed income supplement (GIS)… It is beyond belief that finance ministers armed with incontrovertible research and overwhelming public opinion would opt for a pig-in-a-poke program like the PRPP. It shows the kind of power and influence that business, especially the financial industry, has over politicians and government in this country.
Tags: pensions, poverty, rights, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Ontario’s hurry-up-and-die approach needs fixing
Monday, February 28th, 2011
Feb 26 2011
Ontario’s system for dealing with frail old people is a mess… the average wait time to get into a nursing home has tripled since 2005 – to 105 days… Retirement homes and home care are the other two components of Ontario’s haphazard system of dealing with old people needing help. In theory, all three are supposed to fit together… If nursing homes had enough beds, families would not have to park their elderly relatives in places, like retirement homes, that are ill- designed to serve those with serious needs… They have acted – but usually only when goaded by the threat of bad publicity.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Conservatives too expensive
Monday, February 28th, 2011
Feb 28 2011
I don’t think I can afford the Harper government anymore… I can’t afford to pay for all the F-35 fighter jets, which we will never use… all the extra prisons that he wants to build. I can’t afford to feed all the prisoners whose parole he denies… the extra police we will need to arrest all the potential new prisoners he wants to generate. I can’t afford to have more of our children locked up with mandatory jail sentences for growing some marijuana plants… [or] the additional tax breaks now given to corporations, forcing me to carry the burden for all of the above.
Tags: budget, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Rich schools get richer thanks to private cash
Monday, February 28th, 2011
February 28, 2011
Two public and two Catholic high schools in Greater Toronto are bringing in more than a million dollars a year through student fees, private revenue and fundraising, with dozens more each taking in at least half a million dollars. By contrast, other similar-sized schools report a fraction of that — one just $283,000 — raising questions about equity in the public education system. There is an equally great divide for the region’s elementary schools.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Strong Ontario benefits all
Sunday, February 27th, 2011
Feb 27 2011
… today, a disparity exists in service levels between have and have-not provinces. A recent study on equalization concluded that levels of government services in net-contributor provinces (Ontario, B.C. and Alberta) such as daycare spaces, student-educator ratios, undergraduate tuition and numbers of nurses and doctors per capita, are significantly lower than those in equalization recipient provinces… Ontario will continue to push for a balance between fairness and affordability in the equalization program.
Tags: budget, economy, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Cash cow for the rest of Canada
Friday, February 25th, 2011
Feb 25 2011
The people of Ontario have become cash cows for other regions… Ontarians have the least accessible provincial programming in Canada… The province’s growth rate has been declining since equalization was put in place 50 years ago… there is evidence of chronic underinvestment in Ontario’s colleges, universities and mass transit systems, all of which are vital underpinnings of economic health… provincial policies have contributed to these problems. There is little doubt, also, that the huge difference between what the federal government puts into Ontario and what it takes out (about $25 billion in a typical year) is a key contributor…
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Law Commission goes to bat for vulnerable workers
Friday, February 25th, 2011
Feb 25 2011
The federal government has ignored the emergence of a large underclass of vulnerable workers (roughly 2.2 million Canadians). The province has plugged the worst holes in the Employment Standards Act, but only to mollify anti-poverty activists. Unions have watched helplessly as the rights they fought for have been rolled back. Businesses have been largely silent, not wanting to jeopardize a good bargain… The Law Commission’s… objective is to come up with a set of legal reforms and policy changes that would ameliorate the plight of vulnerable workers and bring the province’s employment law into the 21st century.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Let’s declare the mainstream marginal
Friday, February 25th, 2011
Feb 25 2011
It’s possible that the whole idea of a mainstream is flawed and mythical… We worry that our underdeveloped mainstream will get overwhelmed or undermined by other currents — but that’s how cultures develop. They react to every influence they encounter. All cultures, including “mainstream Canadian” have been constantly undermined, “contaminated” and reshaped by encounters with others. It’s a fruitful, messy process… At some point you need to have confidence that what you prize can hold its own, trust your fellow citizens, old and new, and hope something fine and hopeful emerges in the mix.
Tags: ideology, multiculturalism, participation
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Do we really want to ‘look more like Ireland?’ [corporate taxes]
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
Feb 24 2011
…despite a return to profitability after the recession, Canadian corporations were sitting on buckets of cash last year waiting to decide whether to make the investments in machinery and equipment needed to jumpstart the economy. The belief that lower business taxation automatically leads to significant job-creation, even in the long term, is “a leap of faith,” said Bruce Campbell… “I think it’s more ideologically driven than driven on the basis of empirical evidence.”
Tags: budget, ideology, tax
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Begging for Care: Keeping seniors healthy and at home
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
Feb 23 2011
A woman exhausted from providing round-the-clock care for her mother-in-law, who suffers from dementia, begs for the help of a personal support worker. She qualifies for just three hours a week. The province has increased funding to Ontario’s Community Care Access Centres… But what of seniors who wind up in a hospital bed because the medical and personal support they needed to keep them healthy at home was not available? … the only hope of taming the growth in Ontario’s health care budget… is to keep seniors healthy at home for as long as possible.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
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