Posts Tagged ‘rights’
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Ontario’s cuts to legal aid will hurt the poorest
Saturday, April 20th, 2019
It’s hard to fathom the fallout from the Ford government’s short-sighted decision to slash Legal Aid Ontario’s already inadequate budget by 30 per cent. The agency, established to provide legal services to the province’s most vulnerable citizens, was struggling to meet the need even before this. Its budget was so squeezed, in fact, that it could represent only people who are making less than about $17,000 a year. That’s far below the poverty line.
Even then, coverage was limited.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Provincial legal aid cuts are senseless economic and social policy
Friday, April 19th, 2019
Defending the cuts, the attorney general states “there are two stakeholders that must always be front-of-mind: the clients LAO serves and the taxpayers who pay the bills.” But neither stakeholder is served by the cuts. The cuts certainly do not serve legal aid clients… The cuts also do not serve taxpayers… The court system will be further weighed down with subsequent appeals in these matters to fix the damage caused by initial subpar representation.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Did Jody Wilson-Raybould understand her role as attorney-general?
Wednesday, April 17th, 2019
Politically accountable oversight in ensuring that the public interest is properly taken into account isn’t anathema to the rule of law. The attorney-general’s power to superintend prosecutions is an integral part of our justice system… The DPP is expressly mandated to notify the attorney-general if a case “raises important questions of general interest.” … the attorney-general appears to have reflexively deferred to the DPP and abdicated her responsibility for vigorous and independent oversight.
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
The Ford government is trying to make itself less accountable
Tuesday, April 16th, 2019
… this is the government that made itself less accountable to the public by firing the independent watchdogs for children, francophones and the environment. Now it appears to be cutting off another avenue of accountability by introducing legislation that critics say would make it harder to take legal action against the government by increasing the threshold necessary to proceed with litigation… there’s one legal challenge the government can’t avoid. That’s the one coming from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association if the legislation is passed.
Tags: budget, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Time to reveal individual MD’s OHIP billings
Sunday, April 14th, 2019
The fact is, releasing physician-identified billings is hardly groundbreaking. It already occurs in British Columbia, Manitoba and New Brunswick and in the United States. But in Ontario, taxpayers have been left in the dark, wondering what to make of a health ministry audit conducted five years ago that raised some troubling questions… Allowing questionable billings to go unchallenged only serves to unfairly tarnish the reputations of all doctors.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, rights
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Lawyers condemn Doug Ford government cuts to legal-aid funding
Saturday, April 13th, 2019
A large cut to legal-aid funding from Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government will leave some of the province’s most vulnerable and impoverished people without proper representation in court, lawyers warn, while also slashing Legal Aid Ontario’s budget for refugee and immigration cases by two-thirds… the cuts will mean more courtroom delays and a lack of legal help for people fleeing oppressive regimes, fighting for the custody of their kids or facing other court proceedings.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Nova Scotia is showing the way on organ donation
Wednesday, April 10th, 2019
This is the first time what’s known as “presumed consent” legislation will become law anywhere in Canada or the United States. But it’s far from new elsewhere in the world… The fact is about 4,500 people are on waiting lists for organ donations in Canada in any given year and the wait for a transplant can be up to six years. Sadly, about 250 people die each year waiting for such organs as hearts and lungs.
Tags: disabilities, Health, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Ontario should get tougher on raising vaccination rates
Friday, April 5th, 2019
The numbers gathered by the Star from public health units around the province show vaccination rates vary considerably, but are too low to provide so-called “herd immunity” for the general population… The province should move toward eliminating non-medical exemptions for the vaccinations that children must have in order to attend school… Better to act now than to put health and lives at risk.
Tags: Health, ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
What people are getting wrong about this entire silly affair [SNC-Lavalin]
Friday, April 5th, 2019
… the option to Canadian prosecutors to impose a fine rather than lay a criminal charge is legitimate and sensible and the media and opposition should stop referring to it as a sleazy, partisan escape hatch for the naughty corporate friends of the Liberal Party… The argument that Trudeau had no right to review the case is spurious: he has an absolute obligation to discharge the duties of his office.
Tags: crime prevention, economy, globalization, ideology, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
New Ontario law allows less pay for overtime
Tuesday, April 2nd, 2019
Time-and-a-half pay in Ontario is usually mandatory when employees work more than 44 hours a week, unless an overtime-averaging agreement in place. Under Bill 66, employers will have expanded use of these agreements and will be able to average workers’ hours over the course of a month rather than two weeks, resulting in less overtime pay… the new measures will encourage employers to assign erratic schedules to workers in order to minimize overtime payments.
Tags: economy, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
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