budget « Social Policy in Ontario

Posts Tagged ‘budget’

Engineering a ‘green recovery’ is a terrible idea

Monday, June 1st, 2020

The Liberals… should resist the temptation to design a conventional economic stimulus package until it is absolutely clear that one is necessary. As for any planned green recovery, they should avoid costly policies that involve picking winners and rely instead on a rising carbon price to do its job.

Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »

Canada’s soldiers have provided a wake-up call for our long-term care system

Thursday, May 28th, 2020

Our inaction, founded in deep societal ageism and persistent under-funding, cumulatively sowed the seeds of the tragedy we have been witnessing. Canada currently spends, on average, 30 per cent less of its gross domestic product on long-term care than the other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, and prioritizes its limited funds on warehousing older adults rather than helping them stay in their own homes.

Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »

Power will flow to a post-pandemic Ottawa

Sunday, May 24th, 2020

… if you are a near-bankrupt borrower, as several Canadian provinces and cities will soon be, you cannot demand money from the printing press owner without it coming with strings attached. For the first time since the Depression and the following war, Ottawa will be propelled into a much more powerful policy decision-making role, as a result of this shift in power dynamics, in ways that will seriously test the old boundaries of Canadian federalism.

Tags: budget, economy, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »

Why do provinces often confiscate federal benefits from people who clearly need them?

Saturday, May 23rd, 2020

Taken together, as many as 52,000 people on social assistance receive federal and provincial benefits that are subject to complete clawbacks… Those clawbacks poured about $34 million into provincial coffers in April… Ontario isn’t ready to give any of that money back to people such as Demerse by treating EI the same as CERB during the pandemic… it may be time to consider uploading social assistance to the federal level and leave provinces to continue offering supports such as employment training, prescription drugs, dental and vision care for low-income residents

Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »

We must ensure the post-COVID world does not fall prey to socialism

Wednesday, May 20th, 2020

There is a titanic political struggle about to come. The right must start thinking about how to fight it… It will be a conflict in which the natural supporters of free enterprise as the foundation of human progress, and fiscal responsibility as the bedrock of a confident economy, will suddenly find themselves on the back foot… if people are left to turn only to socialist ideas in the wake of these terrible weeks, today’s tragedies will turn into the lifelong torment of tomorrow.

Tags: budget, economy, ideology, privatization
Posted in Debates, Equality Debates | No Comments »

Ottawa to seek equity or cash from companies applying for new COVID-19 loan program

Wednesday, May 20th, 2020

Large companies that receive bridge financing through a new federal loan program will have to give the government the option to take an ownership stake, or provide a cash equivalent… “The idea behind the warrant is to make sure that if the firm does well that Canadians, and Canadian taxpayers, share in that upside” … companies can pay off the interest on the loan through in-kind contributions, usually goods or services, for the first two years of the loan.

Tags: budget, economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »

A recession is a great time to go back to school. Governments must help make that possible

Tuesday, May 19th, 2020

… unlike previous recessions, postsecondary education has itself been partly shut down… For the sake of Canada’s future, governments need to encourage young adults to keep pursuing their educations, and older and unemployed adults to consider a return… The pandemic presents an opportunity for educational innovation, born of necessity.

Tags: budget, economy, participation
Posted in Education Debates, Equality Debates | No Comments »

CERB and other coronavirus benefits won’t last forever. Or will they? What a universal basic income could look like

Sunday, May 17th, 2020

We long for some good to come from this crisis, some national purpose that future generations will point to and say: There, that is when the new world began, when we started to win the war on poverty with an income for all. But maybe a basic income is simply beyond our means… We’ll predict this much: When the crisis finally ends, we’ll be talking about basic income in a way we never have before.

Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »

There’s no such thing as a non-partisan recovery plan. Deal with it

Saturday, May 16th, 2020

… it’s worth being honest about COVID-19 recovery efforts: Trudeau’s plans are going to be different from Ford’s because they believe very different things… If you were a small-government conservative before the pandemic, Trudeau’s response will upset you; if you were a socialist before Ontario’s first coronavirus case, I regret to inform you that Doug Ford will not be leading the people in glorious revolution… conservative premiers will have enormous power to shape and constrain the federal response.

Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »

« Older Entries | Newer Entries »

Social Policy in Ontario