Posts Tagged ‘ideology’

« Older Entries | Newer Entries »

What Pierre Poilievre Doesn’t Get About His Economic Hero

Monday, April 27th, 2026

Poilievre presents justice — fairness, poverty reduction, the well-being of those left behind — as something that markets produce incidentally when they are left alone. The claim is that free markets lifted billions out of poverty; therefore the path forward is more free markets, fewer regulations, lower taxes, more oil and gas. But this framing depends on a separation of efficiency and justice that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Debates | No Comments »


Doug Ford’s push for secrecy is putting the health of Ontarians at risk

Monday, April 13th, 2026

It’s Ontarians who bear the consequences when governments grant themselves the power to be unaccountable. It’s Ontarians who endure longer ER and surgical wait times. It’s Ontarians who are left wondering where their tax dollars have gone — as leaders secretly spend public funds… Here’s what Ontario should be doing: Legislate bans on FOI carve-outs so politicians cannot simply write themselves out of oversight… Secrecy breaks the basic social contract — not only of health care, but of democracy itself.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Governance Debates | 6 Comments »


Every President Tries It. It Never Works.

Thursday, April 2nd, 2026

Efforts to revive manufacturing are rooted in nostalgia. Once upon a time, manufacturing jobs provided a reliable pathway to the middle class… Not anymore… A smarter economic strategy would stop measuring success by the number of assembly lines reopened and start focusing on what actually raises living standards: productivity, affordability and the growth of the whole economy.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Debates | No Comments »


Do trade deals put public health care up for sale?

Wednesday, April 1st, 2026

… the introduction of a parallel, private-pay system in Alberta based on private health insurance and out-of-pocket payment represents a fundamental change to Canada’s public health care system. Alberta would have a difficult time restricting the newly created market to Canadian firms, even if the government wanted to, and once foreign investors become entrenched, they will benefit from the full force of Canada’s international trade obligations.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Health Policy Context | 10 Comments »


Ontario is closing its supervised consumption sites, calling them a failure. So what counts as ‘success?’

Tuesday, March 31st, 2026

Supervised consumption sites are not beyond criticism: they can be better designed, better integrated and more responsive to the communities that host them. But improving them requires better policy, not selective evidence and site closures… Adding treatment capacity does not require removing the safety net beneath it.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Health Debates | 6 Comments »


The Trump era demands we rethink Canada’s constitutional ‘nuclear option’

Tuesday, March 31st, 2026

… everything that is happening in the United States, more or less, could happen here in a perfectly constitutional manner,” …  thanks to the notwithstanding clause… The question is not whether Section 33 can be used, however, but when and how… In just the past six years, however, various governments have used it nine times… voters have proved generally disinclined to punish political parties who use and abuse the notwithstanding clause.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »


The 2026 Ontario budget neglects core provincial responsibilities

Monday, March 30th, 2026

The 2026 budget—much like previous budgets—fails to address the underfunding of health care, K-12 education, post-secondary education, community and social services, and rental and social housing—the core responsibilities of provincial governments.  Despite reports showing that Ontario lags behind most provinces in most of these areas, this year’s budget makes no attempt to close those gaps.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Governance Debates | 7 Comments »


A small group of Canadians are living it up. The rest of us are struggling. Welcome to the K-shaped economy

Saturday, March 28th, 2026

… Between [1999] and 2023, the top 10 per cent of wealthiest households in Canada have seen their net worth surge by 195 per cent. The bottom 10 per cent… has seen its wealth contract outright, by 43 per cent… We need to get a better grip on how wealth grows, who owns it, where it’s stored and where it’s hidden… And the potentially toxic social effects of such a disparity in possibility continue to fester.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »


Privacy commissioner challenges Doug Ford’s reasons for changing access-to-information rules

Friday, March 27th, 2026

Information and privacy commissioner Patricia Kosseim has filed a six-point rebuttal to Premier Doug Ford’s “various” reasons for exempting himself, his cabinet ministers and political aides from access-to-information laws… in a response to Ford’s suggestion that only the media and opposition parties use the laws, the commission said that in the 2024 FOI requests, “more than 95 per cent were submitted by “individuals, businesses, researchers, and community organizations.”

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Governance Policy Context | 6 Comments »


Protected from voters’ wrath, Doug Ford’s latest budget defies fiscal reality

Friday, March 27th, 2026

Ford’s Tories have slashed traditional revenue sources by billions of dollars in good times — licence plate fees, gas taxes and tolls for drivers — only to drive the government deeper into deficit and debt… In the latest budget, those interest payments are now the Ford government’s fourth-biggest expenditure — after health care (41 per cent), education (16.7 per cent) and social services (8.8 per cent)…

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »


« Older Entries | Newer Entries »