Posts Tagged ‘standard of living’
Ontario’s colleges and universities are strapped for cash. A panel has wisely proposed a fix
Thursday, November 23rd, 2023
… salary and benefit costs in Ontario’s universities are, per full-time equivalent student, among the lowest of any province. And as the report said, all organizations that made submissions “emphasized the value of post-secondary education in creating and maintaining a highly qualified and relevant talent pipeline in Ontario.” As has become obvious, the government’s lack of vision on this file does not just fail a sector. It fails the future.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Federal government’s new fiscal guardrails ‘helpful’ for monetary policy: Macklem
Thursday, November 23rd, 2023
The fall economic statement made new commitments on how the federal government will approach its finances, including setting a goal to keep deficits below 1 per cent of the GDP beginning in 2026-27… The governor said Canada has two advantages today compared with the 1970s. The first is that people expect inflation to come back down in the long run; the second, that the Bank of Canada responded forcefully this time with aggressive rate hikes.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario’s regional universities are in jeopardy — and so are the future of our communities
Tuesday, November 21st, 2023
Increasingly… regional universities are alone in shouldering the costs of educating our future citizens and supporting our communities due to funding freezes from the province… Operating grants from the provincial government have been frozen since 2006 and the province has not funded for net new students since 2016… Then in 2019, the province cut domestic tuition fees by 10 per cent and has frozen them since… These cuts are not sustainable.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Growing gas plants: a made-in-Ontario public health failure
Friday, November 17th, 2023
Air pollution prematurely kills at least 6,600 Ontarians annually… Breathing toxic polluted air, further worsened by gas expansion, causes disease throughout our bodies… Other jurisdictions worldwide are successfully combining energy conservation, storage, and safe large-scale renewable energy transitions using solar, wind and hydro. Overlooking these low-cost, ready and reliable solutions, the Ontario government deliberately cancelled pre-existing renewable projects, costing taxpayers approximately $231 million.
Tags: economy, Health, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
National Pharmacare – Time to Get on With It
Wednesday, November 15th, 2023
National pharmacare is overdue. In 21st century healthcare, drugs are not a luxury nor a discretionary add-on. They are an essential part of healthcare delivery that should be covered universally. Canadians have already waited too long, and far too many of them don’t get the medication they need to stay healthy and manage chronic disease. The federal government can act as a catalyst by making a credible and responsible financial commitment… to improve public plan coverage.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, jurisdiction, mental Health, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Want financially stable universities? Provide the investment students and faculty deserve
Tuesday, November 14th, 2023
… the financial stability of post-secondary education is in crisis without an increased investment in post-secondary education from the province… our province already having the lowest investment per student across all of Canada… questions remain around what a “successful” post-secondary system looks like to the provincial government… Universities require more investment because they are major economic drivers for the communities in which they operate.
Tags: budget, immigration, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
National Pharmacare – Time to Get on With It
Friday, November 3rd, 2023
The federal government can act as a catalyst by making a credible and responsible financial commitment that opens the door to joint work with provinces and territories to improve public plan coverage. The PEI agreement is a good model and federal legislation can help to create a positive foundation for collaboration. The political window to move things forward is open, but not for long.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
The Liberals have a chance to make headway on pharmacare. They should seize the opportunity
Thursday, November 2nd, 2023
Hoskins had recommended that a universal program begin with essential medicines, which would initially cost the government $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion. The NDP insists on a single-payer universal system but acknowledges it can’t be done in one fell swoop. It has demanded that timelines for progress be enshrined in legislation. If all this leads to a “foundational” piece of legislation and a firm road map going forward, that will be welcome and significant progress in a time of economic uncertainty.
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, featured, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Ontario needs to remove barriers to child-care subsidies for low-income families
Friday, October 20th, 2023
Ontario’s current implementation plan for child-care and early-learning agreements runs the risk of leaving disadvantaged families further behind, rather than closing gaps in opportunities and outcomes for their children. To prevent this, Ontario, and indeed all provinces, need to double down on removing barriers to child-care subsidies for low-income families.
Tags: child care, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Politicians come and go, but the clock is now ticking on long-promised pharmacare
Thursday, October 12th, 2023
Federal funding of essential medicines will, of course, cost the federal government, since it would foot the bill for all of those essential medicines instead of the provinces paying much of the costs. But the $7.6 billion price tag is a bargain. All told, a program of this kind could save provinces, employers and families $12 billion in reduced prescription drug costs. The $4 billion in direct savings for provinces alone is enough to entice even the most recalcitrant of provincial governments.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »