Posts Tagged ‘budget’

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With big bonuses, Air Canada gives us all a $10-million slap in the face

Friday, June 4th, 2021

The airline disclosed… that it gave the bonuses last December to executives and managers “for exceptional performance” over the past year as air travel plunged during the pandemic… What surely leaves Canadians flabbergasted and furious is that this is not one firm making one bad decision… Freeland should… find a way to withhold public funding for Air Canada until the airline rescinds bonuses that stand as a $10-million insult to the country.

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Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »


Do pandemic income supports encourage people to stay off work? Of course — and that could be a good thing

Friday, June 4th, 2021

… this could really shake up capitalism for the better. How? If workers choose to stay in bed, employers might (rationally) choose to entice them back with higher wages… Higher pay though would also narrow the equality gap… People just don’t like bed that much. In fact, they like work, especially if it involves some satisfaction.

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Governments paid billions to help develop COVID-19 vaccines — so why is Big Pharma charging us billions more for the vaccines we helped create?

Thursday, June 3rd, 2021

If we think of war profiteers as being lower than a snake’s belly, what are we to make of the drug industry’s pandemic profiteers? … Canada, like other government funders in this global crisis, is not expecting to recover its costs in funding COVID-related medicine…  governments that fund research that is used in lucrative commercial drug production must demand a return on their investment. 

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Closing Ottawa’s Tax Gap Not A Silver Bullet Post-Covid

Tuesday, May 18th, 2021

With the federal government projecting swelling budget deficits in the Fall Economic Statement and then the 2021 Budget due to pandemic relief measures, the debate is shifting to the revenue raising measures needed to pay for them. However, “closing the tax gap should not be considered a silver bullet to deal with burgeoning federal debt” notes Richard Bird, an eminent tax scholar.

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Government must follow report finding and invest in home care

Tuesday, May 18th, 2021

Without an immediate investment of $600 million, Ontario’s home care system will fail. Queen’s Park seems more focused on institutional care, having announced billions for hospitals in its spring budget. This is missing the mark; seniors want the government to help them age with independence, in their own homes.

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All in this together? Greedy CEOs and corporations abuse our trust

Tuesday, May 11th, 2021

… many top Canadian CEOs saw their compensation soar in pandemic year 2020… Companies that got CEWS money when they didn’t really need it may well have followed the rules as they were written. But the government shouldn’t simply ignore abuse. It should call out companies, especially big ones, that violated the spirit of the program. It should see if any of those millions that went to companies that didn’t need them can be recovered. And it should tighten the rules for the remainder of the life of the program.

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Subjects of the New Corporate University: The Sabotage of Laurentian University

Thursday, May 6th, 2021

Fully half of the university’s programs, developed over 61 years, were eliminated… Laurentian University’s administration won an insolvency court’s permission to restructure the university in order to close less “popular” programs, in the name of achieving financial solvency… three of Canada’s ‘Big Six’ banks – RBC, TD-Canada Trust, and Bank of Montreal – have a vote on a restructured university plan, but faculty (no mention of the phrase ‘collegial governance’ has been hinted at) and students have no voice, no vote, and won’t be consulted in any genuine way.

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Budget 2021 Misses the Opportunity to #TaxtheRich

Thursday, May 6th, 2021

By implementing tax reforms like creating a wealth tax, implementing an excess pandemic profits tax, and closing tax loopholes, Canada can raise the revenue it needs to fund its post-pandemic recovery. We don’t have to choose between childcare and pharmacare; or making substantial investment in eldercare to implement new national standards the government has committed to establishing for Long-term care… by missing the opportunity to tax the rich, the government quite literally failed to cash in on what the people want.

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Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »


Trudeau should join Biden in rejecting suffocating ‘trickle-down’ economics

Thursday, May 6th, 2021

Trudeau has shown some spine against the deficit hawks, but he has been timid about joining Biden’s campaign to tax the wealthy… Too bad. We could sure use the money to pay for needed programs. Besides, when nations co-operate, corporations have a hard time playing us off against each other in pushing for ever-lower taxes… if other countries follow the U.S. in policing their corporations this way “it’s the end of tax havens.”

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Same Old Federal Thinking Hampers Childcare Plan

Thursday, May 6th, 2021

It would have been simpler and more expedient for the federal government to directly fund childcare costs through grants or tax credits. And a focus on affordability for parents needing to work would have enabled the federal government to save some money for other health-related provincial transfers.

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Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »


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